The "Spring and Autumn and Warring States" era in Chinese history is traditionally called the "Eastern Zhou Dynasty". This is not only because during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were still kings of the Eastern Zhou royal family who were direct descendants of the Western Zhou kings, but also until the early Warring States period, various vassal states regarded it as the lord of the world and used its name to enhance its status. Three families, such as Han, Zhao and Wei, have already carved up the Jin Kingdom, but in order to become official princes, they still need a "book of orders" from the King of Zhou. In the 23rd year of King Weilie of Zhou Dynasty (403 BC), "Zhao, Wei, and Han were all appointed princes." ① It was not until this time that the division of the three families into Jin was considered "legal." The Tian family of Qi had already replaced the Jiang family in the country, but not only was it not recognized as a prince, it also did not have the right to deal directly with the King of Zhou. The Tian family was listed as a vassal, which was achieved through its request to the King of Zhou through the State of Wei and with the help of the State of Wei. In the 18th year of Duke Kanggong of Qi (387 BC, during the Spring and Autumn Period, from the perspective of the Zhou Dynasty, the world was still dominated by the surname Ji. King Ping of Zhou was the prince of King You, the last king of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The only difference was that the capital was moved to Chengzhou. And Chengzhou had the nature of accompanying the capital during the Western Zhou Dynasty, and was known as Luoyi, the eastern capital.) Tianhe and "Marquis Wen of Wei met in Ze (now Yu County, Henan) to ask for the title of prince." Marquis Wen of Wei sent someone to intercede with the king of Zhou, and the following year. "Tian He was established as the Marquis of Qi, listed in the Zhou Dynasty, in the first year of the Era." ②The Tian family then legitimately replaced the Qi State with the surname Jiang, and was recognized by the vassal states.
The authority of Emperor Zhou still had a certain effect until the middle of the Warring States Period. In the twenty-fifth year of King Xian of Zhou Dynasty (344 BC), King Wei Hui met the princes in Fengze, and then "drove the twelve princes to court the emperor in Mengjin." ①The purpose of King Wei Hui's move was to borrow the banner of King Zhou Come to give orders to the princes and act like the overlords of the Spring and Autumn Period. This year has been 132 years since the beginning of the Warring States Period.
The complete loss of the authority of Emperor Zhou occurred in the thirty-fifth year of King Xian of Zhou (334 BC). In this year, King Hui of Wei and King Wei of Qi met in Xuzhou (now south of Teng County, Shandong) and recognized each other as king. This was the beginning of the vassal states in the Central Plains calling themselves "kings". Before this, although there were kings of Chu, Wu, Yue and other countries who were called "kings", these were barbarian kings who were considered "discourteous", and no princes from the Central Plains were called kings. The title of "king" was exclusive to the Emperor of Zhou in the ritual system of the Central Plains Dynasty. Now the princes and states are all called "kings" one after another, and the small court of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which has no economic or military power, will no longer be used to order the princes in its name. And the kings of various countries all want to be the "kings" of the world, and there is no need to borrow the name of others. The emergence of this political situation is already in the history of the middle period of the Warring States Period. Therefore, the Zhou among the "three dynasties" called Xia, Shang and Zhou in history books actually includes the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou, that is, it includes the three eras of the Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn, and Warring States. Therefore, Wang Sunman told King Zhuang of Chu that the calendar of the Zhou Dynasty was "thirty years of fortune and seven hundred years of fortune"②. The Western Zhou Dynasty lasted for more than 250 years, and the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period lasted about 550 years, roughly nearly 800 years.
The name "Eastern Zhou" comes from the fact that King Ping of Zhou moved the capital to Chengzhou, which is now Luoyang City in Henan Province. Before this, the royal capital of the Zhou Dynasty was in Haojing, which is on the east bank of the Feng River 12 kilometers southwest of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. Chengzhou was geographically located to the east of Haojing, so it was called the "Eastern Zhou Dynasty". The period when the royal capital was in Haojing was called the "Western Zhou Dynasty" by later generations.
① "Historical Records" Volume 39 "Jin Family".
② "Historical Records" Volume 46 "Tian Jingzhong Wanshi Family".
① Chapter "Calling the King of Qin" in "Warring States Policy? Qin Policy Five".
② "Zuo Zhuan" was published in the third year of Xuan Gong.
The origins of the names of the two eras "Spring and Autumn" and "Warring States" are quite special. It is named after the two books "Spring and Autumn" and "Warring States Policy". The name "Spring and Autumn" was originally the name of the history books of various countries. In ancient times, various countries had historians, and "every king must write a letter when he makes a decision." Historians had two positions: left and right. "The history of the left records words, and the history of the right records events. The events are called "Spring and Autumn", and the words are called "Shang Shu". The emperors are different." ① Historians record events, which are of a chronicle nature. Things done in the four seasons of the year are recorded on slips, but they cannot The four characters spring, summer, autumn and winter were used as the title of the book, so "spring" and "autumn" were summarized to include "summer" and "winter". The history books of various countries have been lost. The Spring and Autumn Annals that we see today and are included in the Thirteen Classics are the historical records of the State of Lu. The Spring and Autumn Annals of the State of Lu were compiled by Confucius into the "Six Classics", which was one of the "Six Arts" that Confucius taught his disciples, and thus were preserved.
Later, Zuo Qiuming, Gongyang, Gu Liang and others wrote annotations. During the Han Dynasty, these three annotations were successively listed as textbooks in government schools and have been passed down to this day. The events recorded in "Spring and Autumn" start from the first year of Lu Yin (722 BC) and end with the 14th year of Lu Aigong (481 BC, Zuo's 16th year). In the middle, there are twelve kings of the Lu Kingdom, which lasted for a long time. 242 years.
The name "Warring States" was already used by some people at that time, but it was only used to refer to the powerful countries that participated in successive wars at that time. For example, "Wei Liaozi? Military Education Part Two" said: "Today's Warring States Prime Minister "Attack, large-scale attack is virtuous." "Warring States Policy? Qin Policy Four" Zai Dunruo said: "Shandong Warring States Period has six." "Chu Policy Two" contains Zhao Chang saying to King Qingxiang of Chu: "We will go to the east for five hundred people." Here, it is half of the Warring States period. ""Zhao Ce III" records that "the ancient ones are divided into seven warring states". But Yan was weak." By the early Western Han Dynasty, the meaning of the term "Warring States" had not changed. For example, "Historical Records? Pingzhunshu" said: "Since then, the world has been fighting for the Warring States period." The Warring States period was regarded as the name of an era. , began to be used after Liu Xiang edited the book "Warring States Policy" at the end of the Western Han Dynasty②. However, its users are not yet common. For example, when Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty wrote the Book of Han, he often used the name "Six Kingdoms" when referring to people and events during the Warring States Period.