In Chinese history, it is not uncommon to change dynasties, such as the Yuan replacing the Song and the Qing replacing the Ming; it is also common for a dynasty to be divided into two parts due to major changes, such as the Zhou Dynasty divided into Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou, the Han Dynasty divided into Western Han and Eastern Han, the Jin Dynasty divided into Western Jin and Eastern Jin, and the Song Dynasty divided into Northern Song and Southern Song...
However, there is another very special case in Chinese history
: Spring and Autumn Warring States!
Spring and Autumn Warring States, is this a dynasty? No, strictly speaking, the Spring and Autumn Period belongs to the Eastern Zhou, while the Warring States belong to the Eastern Zhou for part of the time, and the other part is not, and the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States are not dynasties, but "periods".
Note: Eastern Zhou is divided into two parts, Spring and Autumn and Warring States, which is one of the most common historical mistakes made by ordinary people, in fact, when Eastern Zhou fell, the Warring States period was not over, so in fact, the Spring and Autumn + Warring States > Eastern Zhou, Eastern Zhou was destroyed by Qin in 256 BC, and the Warring States Era lasted until 221 BC
This may be the only case in Chinese history to refer to a period of time as "period" instead of "dynasty", so what is special about the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States? How are they distinguished?
Generally speaking, the establishment and demise of a dynasty, this point in time is very certain, such as the Ming Dynasty, when was it established? In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor; when did he perish? In 1644, Chongzhen was martyred. A dynasty is divided into two parts, which is also certain, such as the Song Dynasty, the Jin soldiers attacked the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Tokyo, Kaifeng Province, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, and then the Southern Song Dynasty.
This is usually divided by iconic time nodes.
But the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States are not like this, they are divided by major social changes, and the reason why the Spring and Autumn Warring States are a special case is because it is stuck at one of the most critical nodes in ancient Chinese history
: From slave society to feudal society. Anyone with knowledge of junior high school history remembers a point of knowledge - China's slave society includes Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn.
Yes, until the Spring and Autumn Period, the beginning of the Warring States Era, China gradually entered the feudal society, and the final end of the Warring States Era was China's first unified feudal dynasty - the Qin Dynasty.
Of course, what kind of slave society, feudal society, this is the concept of modern history, the ancients could not have known this, but what are they for to divide the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States? In fact, the great changes in the social system often lead to great changes in the style of the whole society, and it is precisely because the ancients noticed this change that they distinguished the two periods from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States.
In fact, of course, there are different nodes between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States, but this node is not a specific year, but an event - the three branches of the Jin Dynasty (sometimes including the Tian Dynasty).
What is the "three branches of the jin"? This is actually a civil war in the State of Jin, the State of Jin began in the Spring and Autumn Period, the power of the office declined, the major secretaries of state divided the power and resources of the State of Jin, by the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, only the four families of the State of Jin were left, Namely, Zhao, Han, and Wei, and later the three families of Zhao, Han, and Wei jointly attacked the Zhi clan and divided their territories in 453 AD, after which these three families successively encroached on the other areas of the Jin Office that had completely declined, and completely destroyed it...
This is a very long process, and it is precisely for this reason that the specific division of the Spring and Autumn Warring States nodes has been controversial until now, at least seven theories, the division of this is too complicated, the author will not repeat it, interested can check the relevant statements themselves, then how to talk about, between the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States, where is the most specific difference?
In the view of the ancients who emphasized political ethics, the biggest difference between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States was whether the authority of the Zhou Dynasty still existed, and why did the three branches of the Jin Dynasty be regarded as a key event? Because, according to the political law of the Zhou Dynasty, these three families were chaotic courtiers and thieves, but the Zhou royal family finally compromised and made these three princes, which means that the Zhou royal family has completely lost its status as the "moral high ground" in politics, and the traditional liturgical system has completely lost its binding force on the powerful princes, and they have begun to attack and merge with each other unscrupulously, the so-called "liturgical collapse and happiness".
However, this situation of "collapse and happiness" did not arise in a day, and the reason for this situation is the great change in the social situation, and we know that the productive forces determine the relations of production and the social system.
Beginning in the late Spring and Autumn period, china began to have an agricultural revolution, marked by the widespread use of iron tools and the promotion of cattle farming, and the rapid increase in agricultural productivity.
What does this mean? When you look at the history of the Spring and Autumn Period, you will sometimes find a problem, the Jin State, the Qin State, the Chu State and several other big men fight each other, usually not to beat each other to death, but to subdue the other party, asking it to admit that it is the boss of this region (the so-called "hegemony", the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons) is enough, quite a kind of war etiquette.
This is actually not their high quality, but at the level of the Spring and Autumn Period, you destroyed the country of others is useless, the Spring and Autumn Period productivity is very low, there are a large number of undeveloped vacant land between countries, which plays the role of a buffer zone, when several princely states did not have so many populations to control here, let alone annex each other.
Of course, this is the rule between big countries, small countries are often constantly annexed by neighboring big countries, and when it comes to rules, then naturally there is an arbitrator, who is the arbitrator? Naturally, it was the Zhou royal family, and at this time, the Zhou royal family was actually in a similar position to a medium princely state, but because of the traditional authority of the Son of Heaven, it could also play the role of an arbitrator.
However, with the successive development of productive forces, the growth of population, the continuous development of land, and the emergence of the landlord class on the stage of history, in order to adapt to this trend and enhance national strength, countries have continuously carried out reforms (from slavery to feudalism), and the landlord class has become the ruling class.
At this time, the contradictions between the countries have increased sharply, in order to compete for land or water conservancy resources, the countries have fought a bloody battle, the war at this time is quite cruel, it is a big war to destroy the country and exterminate the nation, the struggle between countries in the Spring and Autumn Period is a political hegemonic struggle, and the Warring States period is fighting for living space.
At this time, zhou tianzi's position was very delicate, and a small area controlled by Zhou Tianzi centered on Luoyang was somewhat similar to the later neutral state, and no one could be guilty.
With the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, countries continued to attack and annex, and there were fewer and fewer countries.
"At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, there were only 124 kingdoms left, and by the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period. The Spring and Autumn kingdoms annexed small and weak, and most of them used their national land as counties. Because of the destruction of the country, special counties were set up, and special officials were placed because of the establishment of counties, and the feudal system gradually became the system of counties and counties. ——"Chinese Cultural History", Liu Yimou
The great economic changes were eventually reflected in the political disintegration of the hereditary hierarchy, the loss of status by some former aristocrats, and the enrichment of other commoners of that time through business or other opportunities, and even becoming important figures in political groups. The bureaucracy has changed. The civil strife of the Jin State is the most significant manifestation of this change, so the demise of the Jin State became the distinguishing node of the Spring and Autumn Warring States
Judging from the general trend of history, moving from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States is an inevitable trend of development.