The Spring and Autumn Period was a period of division and opposition between various countries, and the titles of various princes seemed to be quite high. Moreover, the princely states all have the posture of hegemony, which is really puzzling, what is the significance of the granting of some ducal states or viscountates? Let's take a look at the reasoning.
I believe that many people have heard of the Spring and Autumn Five Powers, such as the Duke of Qi Huan, the King of Chuzhuang, and the Duke Wen of Jin, who are very famous and have an important position in the history of the Spring and Autumn Struggle. These overlords were very powerful people in the Spring and Autumn Period, with the strength to dominate, but they were only local overlords and did not hold the highest ruling power. And these overlords also have some identities, such as the title of ducal state, viscount state, etc., what does this mean?
Originally, although the Spring and Autumn Period was dividing the various princely states, they still recognized the existence of Zhou Tianzi, the most powerful ruler of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and once achieved unification for a period of time. Zhou Tianzi did not appear to be weak until after the Spring and Autumn Period, and his power could no longer be compared with before. The power of the various princely states became stronger, and it was originally the title granted by Zhou Tianzi on his own initiative, and sometimes the princely states would even look for Zhou Tianzi to ask for it.
In the past, the titles of Spring and Autumn were divided into five ranks, namely dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts, and barons. The award of the title was related to the close relationship between Zhou Tianzi, and many dukes at that time were descendants of Zhou Tianzi, so they had such titles. Some of the marquises were important Zhou Dynasty ministers, and they were divided into various places for town guarding, and after the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhou Tianzi could not control them, and their power was too powerful. However, they still paid more attention to the issue of identity, after all, the various princely states still looked at the etiquette, and they had to pay tribute to the Zhou Dynasty.
The State of Chu was an exception, as the Chu State was not highly knighted at that time, and others considered it to be only a southern barbarian state. The status of the State of Chu at that time was not recognized by other countries, so King Zhuang of Chu wanted to ask Zhou Tianzi for a knighthood, but Zhou Tianzi was unwilling. The State of Chu later remained a viscount, which was despised by the other princely states. King Chu Zhuang was very angry at that time, so he thought of other ways, he made three moves to establish a king, such a deviant behavior made Zhou Tianzi frightened, and made Zhou Tianzi very angry. But Zhou Tianzi also had no way, the power of the Chu State was too strong, this was no longer able to be countered by any country, and Zhou Tianzi's dynasty had no power to oppose, zhou Tianzi chose to turn a blind eye.
The titles of Spring and Autumn are exquisite, but in the case of so many countries competing for hegemony, there is not much significance. Such a distinction between titles has become the capital of the princely states to show off, to see who can have a better title, in fact, the title has little significance. Titles do not represent the strength of the country at that time, it is just a good name, and at that time the liturgical music has begun to collapse, and the knighthood seems to have become less important.