When it comes to China's history, we must not avoid the spring and autumn period of the Warring States period, because in this period of China, a hundred schools of thought competed, and various ideological trends surged forward, and many of the classics and ideas we are familiar with now come from that era! The Spring and Autumn Warring States actually refers to two periods, the Warring States period is the period of decline of the Zhou royal family, the nations attack, the war is continuous, so we call it the Warring States. So during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou royal family still existed, why do we call this period spring and autumn? Why not call it winter and summer?
Spring and Autumn and the Warring States, the most important dividing point is actually the three branches of the Jin! During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou royal family was still the co-lord of the world, everyone still had relatively respect for the Zhou royal family, and the Spring and Autumn overlords basically hoped to get the recognition and endorsement of the Zhou royal family. However, with the division of the three families, the situation in the world changed greatly, which opened the Warring States era. In the Warring States period, the Zhou royal family became weaker and weaker, everyone did not look at the Zhou royal family in the eyes, before the Spring and Autumn Overlords, but also hoped to cooperate with the Zhou royal family, in the Warring States period, these powerful countries either oppressed the Zhou royal family, or directly ignored the Zhou royal family, because they wanted to unify the world and replace it!
The war in the Spring and Autumn Period was not as fierce as in the Warring States Period, and the world's liturgical music did not completely collapse, and everyone still maintained a certain degree of restraint. For example, as we see in the books, the national war in the Spring and Autumn Period is actually very idealistic, that is, the two countries agree with each other on the time and place of dispatching troops, and when the time comes, everyone will pull the army over together, fight in a dignified manner, and divide the victory and defeat with strength. This is actually very much like the duel between two gentlemen, not at all like the way we fight in later generations, and there are many tricks.
During the Spring and Autumn period, the war was not fierce, and many major events often occurred in the spring and autumn seasons, so people often used the word spring and autumn to record what happened at that time. At that time, most of the history books were named after Spring and Autumn, plus the names of the countries, such as "Zhou Chunqiu" written by the Zhou Dynasty, "Lu Chunqiu" written by Lu Guo, and "Yan Chunqiu" written by Yan Guo. Most of the history books written by these countries were lost in the war, only Lu Guo's "Lu Chunqiu" was handed down, and Confucius revised the history book "Lu Chunqiu" and renamed it "Spring and Autumn", and eventually this book gradually became a representative of the Spring and Autumn period.
Confucius has a very high status in Chinese culture, he adapted the "Spring and Autumn", making the "Spring and Autumn" very famous, and "Spring and Autumn" records the major events that occurred in the 242 years from the year of Lu Yin (722 BC) to the fourteenth year of the Duke of Lu 'ai (481 BC), which coincided with the time period of Spring and Autumn, so everyone gradually used the title of "Spring and Autumn" to refer to the period of Spring and Autumn. This point is actually similar to the naming of the Warring States period! The reason why Spring and Autumn is called Spring and Autumn is mainly because the book "Spring and Autumn" is too famous and represents the history of that period, and the reason why the Warring States is named the Warring States is also because the book "Warring States Policy" is too famous and represents the history of the Warring States period!
Of course, in addition to the influence of the history book "Spring and Autumn", the reason why Spring and Autumn was named Spring and Autumn was also related to the sacrifice habits at that time! In ancient times, the production conditions were low, basically relying on the sky to eat, so everyone regarded the weather and seasons very seriously, and thought that what they received was a gift from heaven, so in the spring and autumn, everyone had to hold sacrifices, hoping that god would bless everyone to get a good harvest! Spring sowing, autumn harvesting this is an eternal truth, spring and autumn sacrifices are valued by everyone, so spring and autumn have gradually become synonymous with this time period!
During the Spring and Autumn Period, although the Zhou royal family was no longer as powerful as before, it was not completely decayed, and it still had a certain authority and influence in the world, so the large and small princely states would go to the Zhou royal family every year to pay tribute and visit. During this period of time, the princes would tell the King of Zhou about the important events of their fiefdom, and when they encountered difficulties, they would also seek help from the King of Zhou, which had been a long-standing practice and had become a conventional rule. And this kind of tribute usually occurs during the Spring and Autumn Period, so posterity will call this period the Spring and Autumn Period! In the Warring States period, the Zhou royal family was even more weakened, and there were fewer and fewer princes in the Tribute Zhou royal family, so this kind of rule was more and more unavoidable, and slowly disappeared, and the word Spring and Autumn was no longer applicable.
epilogue
On the whole, the Spring and Autumn Period in Chinese history is called "Spring and Autumn" mainly for three reasons! First, the history books of various countries are named after the Spring and Autumn Period, and the most widely circulated history book about this period is Confucius's renamed "Spring and Autumn", so everyone gradually names this period after Spring and Autumn; second, the common people during this period usually hold sacrifices in the Spring and Autumn Period; the third is that the princely states during this period usually pay tribute to the Zhou royal family in the Spring and Autumn Period!