Editing Zhou dynasty (section)

===Feudalism===
{{further|List of Zhou dynasty states}}
[[Image:CMOC Treasures of Ancient China exhibit - bronze gui.jpg|thumb|right|A Western Zhou ceremonial bronze of cooking-vessel form inscribed to record that the King of Zhou gave a fiefdom to Shi You, ordering that he inherit the title as well as the land and people living there]]
Western writers often describe the Zhou period as feudal because the Zhou's ''[[fengjian]]'' system invites comparison with European political systems during the [[Middle Ages]].
[[File:Changshadragon.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Silk painting depicting a man riding a dragon]]'', painting on silk, dated to 5th–3rd century&nbsp;BC, from Zidanku Tomb no. 1 in [[Changsha]], Hunan]]
[[File:Lacquer painting from Ch'u State.jpg|thumb|A {{circa|316&nbsp;BC}} [[lacquerware]] painting from the Jingmen Tomb of the [[state of Chu]] (704–223&nbsp;BC), depicting men wearing precursors to ''[[hanfu]]'' dress and riding in a two-horsed chariot]]
There were many similarities between the decentralized systems. When the dynasty was established, the conquered land was divided into hereditary fiefs ({{lang|zh|諸侯}}, ''zhūhóu'') that eventually became powerful in their own right. In matters of inheritance, the Zhou dynasty recognized only patrilineal [[primogeniture]] as legal.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ancestral Memory in Early China|first=K. E.|last=Brashier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJAMLt5NYAQC&pg=PA71 |isbn=978-0-674-05607-7|date=2011-01-01|publisher=Harvard University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://c.ianthro.tw/sites/c.ianthro.tw/files/da/df/401/401104_0001.pdf |title=The ramage system in China and Polynesia |first=Li |last=Hwei |access-date=2013-05-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055816/http://c.ianthro.tw/sites/c.ianthro.tw/files/da/df/401/401104_0001.pdf |archive-date=2013-09-21 }}</ref> According to Hsi-Sheng Tao, "the Tsung-fa or descent line system has the following characteristics: patrilineal descent, patrilineal succession, patriarchate, sib-exogamy, and primogeniture"<ref>Tao, Hsi-Sheng. Marriage and Family, Shanghai. 1934. pp. 17–31</ref>

The system, also called "extensive stratified patrilineage", was defined by the anthropologist [[Kwang-chih Chang]] as "characterized by the fact that the eldest son of each generation formed the main of line descent and political authority, whereas the younger brothers were moved out to establish new lineages of lesser authority. The farther removed, the lesser the political authority". Ebrey defines the descent-line system as follows: "A great line (ta-tsung) is the line of eldest sons continuing indefinitely from a founding ancestor. A lesser line is the line of younger sons going back no more than five generations. Great lines and lesser lines continually spin off new lesser lines, founded by younger sons".

K.E. Brashier writes in his book "Ancestral Memory in Early China" about the tsung-fa system of patrilineal primogeniture: "The greater lineage, if it has survived, is the direct succession from father to eldest son and is not defined via the collateral shifts of the lesser lineages. In discussions that demarcate between trunk and collateral lines, the former is called a zong and the latter a zu, whereas the whole lineage is dubbed the shi. [...] On one hand, every son who is not the eldest and hence not heir to the lineage territory has the potential of becoming a progenitor and fostering a new trunk lineage (Ideally he would strike out to cultivate new lineage territory). [...] According to the Zou commentary, the [[son of heaven]] divided land among his feudal lords, his feudal lords divided the land among their dependent families and so forth down the pecking order to the officers who had their dependent kin and the commoners who "each had his apportioned relations and all had their graded precedence""<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brashier |first=K. E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJAMLt5NYAQC&pg=PA71 |title=Ancestral Memory in Early China |date=2011 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-05607-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

This type of unilineal descent-group later became the model of the Korean family through the influence of [[Neo-Confucianism]], as [[Zhu Xi]] and others advocated its re-establishment in China.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deuchler |first=Martina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQeeYOyUx64C&pg=PA129 |title=The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study of Society and Ideology |year=1992 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |isbn=978-0-674-16089-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

====''Fengjian'' system and bureaucracy====
There were [[Chinese nobility#Peer ranks of the Zhou dynasty|five peerage ranks]] below the royal ranks, in descending order with common English translations: ''gōng'' 公 "duke", ''hóu'' 侯 "marquis", ''bó'' 伯 "count", ''zǐ'' 子 "viscount", and ''nán'' 男 "baron".<ref>ChinaKnowledge.de encyclopedia, [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/zhou-admin.html] Alternatively, the sequence was translated as '''prince, lord, elder, master, chieftain''': Brooks 1997:3 n.9.</ref> At times, a vigorous duke would take power from his nobles and centralize the state. Centralization became more necessary as the states began to war among themselves and decentralization encouraged more war. If a duke took power from his nobles, the state would have to be administered bureaucratically by appointed officials.

Despite these similarities, there are a number of important differences from medieval Europe. One obvious difference is that the Zhou ruled from walled cities rather than castles. Another was China's distinct class system, which lacked an organized clergy but saw Shang-descent yeomen become masters of ritual and ceremony, as well as astronomy, state affairs and ancient canons, known as ''ru'' ({{lang|zh|儒}}).<ref>{{cite book |last=Rosenlee|first=Li-Hsiang Lisa  |title=Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation |year=2012 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-791-48179-0 |pages=21–24}}</ref> When a dukedom was centralized, these people would find employment as government officials or officers. These hereditary classes were similar to Western knights in status and breeding, but unlike the European equivalent, they were expected to be something of a scholar instead of a warrior. Being appointed, they could move from one state to another. Some would travel from state to state peddling schemes of administrative or military reform. Those who could not find employment would often end up teaching young men who aspired to official status. The most famous of these was [[Confucius]], who taught a system of mutual duty between superiors and inferiors. In contrast, the [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalists]] had no time for Confucian virtue and advocated a system of strict laws and harsh punishments.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}