In the 11th century BCE a frontier state called Zhou rose against and defeated the Shang dynasty. The Zhou dynasty is traditionally divided into two periods: the Western Zhou (ca. 1045 BCE- 771 BCE), when the capital was near modern Xi’an in the west, and the Eastern Zhou (770 BCE- 256 BCE), when the capital was moved further east to modern Luoyang. The Easter Zhou is divided into two sub- periods: The Spring and Autumn Period (770 BCE- 403 BCE) and the Warring States Period (403 BCE- 221 BCE), which are collectively referred to as 'China's Golden Age'.
Like the Shang kings, the Zhou kings sacrificed to their ancestors, but they also sacrificed to Heaven (Tian). The Shu jing (Book of History), one of the earliest transmitted texts, describes the Zhou’s version of their history. It assumes a close relationship between Heaven and the king, called the Son of Heaven, explaining that Heaven gives the king a mandate to rule only as long as he does so in the interest of the people. Because the last Shang king had been decadent and cruel, Heaven withdrew the Mandate of Heaven (Tian Ming) from him and entrusted it to the virtuous Zhou kings. The Shu jing praises the first three Zhou rulers: King Wen (the Cultured King) expanded the Zhou domain; his son, King Wu (the Martial King), conquered the Shang; and King Wu's brother, Zhou Gong (often referred to as Duke of Zhou), consolidated the conquest and served as loyal regent for Wu’s heir.
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