Western Zhou

The Western Zhou (Chinese: 西周; pinyin: Xīzhōu; c. 1046 – 771 BC) was a period of Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began in 1046 BC when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty and ended in 771 BC when Quanrong mercenaries hired by the rebel Marquis of Shen sacked the Zhou capital Fenghao (which consisted of the twin cities Fengjing and Haojing) and killed King You of Zhou. The "Western" label for the period is a retronym referring to the relative location of the ruined Fenghao in the Wei River valley (near present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi province), which is about 340 km (210 miles) west of the subsequent new capital Luoyi (also known as Chengzhou, present-day Luoyang, Henan province) at the Lower Luo River valley, which had previously served as Zhou's secondary capital. After exploiting the opportunity of the Shang dynasty's main forces being away on an expedition against the Dongyi, the earlier Zhou state under Ji Fa allied with other ancient Chinese states and rebelled against King Zhòu of Shang, defeating King Zhòu's hastily conscripted army of slaves and penal troops (who defected immediately) at the Battle of Muye. The Zhou state then became ascendant as the new universal suzerain of the Huaxia federacy for about 70 years until the disastrous Zhou–Chu War in 977 BC; thereafter, the Zhou court gradually declined in power and lost authority over its vassal states, which culminated in an aristocrat insurgency in 841 BC that forced King Li into exile and subsequently began a 14-year period of regency by nobles. The Zhou dynasty had a brief resurgence under King Li's son King Xuan, who scored a series of successful campaigns against the Four Barbarians, but suffered crushing defeats against the Xirong, particularly in 789 BC...