Editing History of China (section)

====Spring and Autumn period (722–476 BC)====
{{main|Spring and Autumn period}}
[[File:Chinese plain 5c. BC-en.svg|thumb|Chinese polities in the late 5th century BC, before the breakup of Jin and the Qin move into Sichuan.]] 
In 771 BC, [[King You of Zhou|King You]] and his forces were defeated in the [[Battle of Mount Li]] by rebel states and [[Quanrong]] barbarians. The rebel aristocrats established a new ruler, [[King Ping of Zhou|King Ping]], in [[Luoyang]],<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Chen Minzhen |last2=Pines |first2=Yuri |author2-link=Yuri Pines |date=2018 |title=Where is King Ping? The History and Historiography of the Zhou Dynasty's Eastward Relocation |journal=Asia Major |series=3 |publisher=Academica Sinica |volume=31 |pages=1–27 |jstor=26571325 |number=1}}</ref>{{rp|4}} beginning the second major phase of the Zhou dynasty: the Eastern Zhou period, which is divided into the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The former period is named after the famous ''[[Spring and Autumn Annals]]''. The sharply reduced political authority of the royal house left a power vacuum at the center of the Zhou culture sphere. The Zhou kings had delegated local political authority to hundreds of [[Ancient Chinese states|settlement states]], some of them only as large as a walled town and surrounding land. These states began to fight against one another and vie for [[hegemony]]. The more powerful states tended to conquer and incorporate the weaker ones, so the number of states declined over time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hsu|first=Cho-yun|title=Ancient China in Transition: An Analysis of Social Mobility, 722–222 B.C. | author-link= Cho-yun Hsu 
|series= Stanford Studies in the Civilizations of Eastern Asia | url= https://archive.org/details/ancientchinaintr0000hsuc/ | url-access= registration | oclc= 1145777819 |date=1965 |publisher=Stanford University Press |language=en | lccn=65013110 }}</ref> By the 6th century BC most small states had disappeared by being annexed and just a few large and powerful principalities remained. Some southern states, such as Chu and Wu, claimed independence from the Zhou, who undertook wars against some of them (Wu and Yue). Many new cities were established in this period and society gradually became more urbanized and commercialized. Many famous individuals such as [[Laozi]], [[Confucius]] and [[Sun Tzu]] lived during this chaotic period.

Conflict in this period occurred both between and within states. Warfare between states forced the surviving states to develop better administrations to mobilize more soldiers and resources. Within states there was constant jockeying between elite families. For example, the three most powerful families in the Jin state—Zhao, Wei and Han—eventually overthrew the ruling family and [[Partition of Jin|partitioned the state between them]].

The [[Hundred Schools of Thought]] of [[Chinese philosophy|classical Chinese philosophy]] began blossoming during this period and the subsequent Warring States period. Such influential intellectual movements as [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]], [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalism]] and [[Mohism]] were founded, partly in response to the changing political world. The first two philosophical thoughts would have an enormous influence on Chinese culture.