Wen | Flying Fish says history
Of the dynasties in Chinese history, the longest-lived dynasty was not the Han Dynasty, but the Zhou Dynasty.
From the establishment of the Western Zhou by King Wu to the destruction of the Eastern Zhou by Lü Buwei for Qin, there were nearly 800 years in between, and the Han Dynasty, which we remember as the longest-lived, only had a history of more than 400 years.
Musical instruments of the Zhou Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was divided into the Western Han And Eastern Han Dynasties, and the Zhou Dynasty was also divided into Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou, and as to why the Eastern Zhou and Eastern Han dynasties continued the state names of Zhou and Han, it is very simple, this is because the surnames of the founders of these two dynasties have not changed, and they are descendants of the clan royal family.
However, the Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou and the Western Han to the Eastern Han Dynasty are not exactly the same, because from the Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou, there is no new dynasty born in the middle, and between the Western Han and the Eastern Han, there is a new dynasty established by Wang Mang, in short, the Zhou Ping King of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was supported by the princes by the blood of his ancestors, while the Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu was more dependent on himself.
Speaking of this, many people will have questions, why the ruler of the Zhou Dynasty is called Wang, but the ruler of the Han Dynasty is the emperor, which is very simple, because the Zhou Dynasty did not have the title of "Emperor", which is the title of the supreme ruler after Qin Shi Huang established the Qin Dynasty.
The supreme ruler of the Zhou Dynasty, people are more accustomed to calling it "Zhou Tianzi".
The Eastern Zhou Dynasty asked the ceremonial monument
Therefore, if you want to ask who zhou tianzi is who frequently appears in the Spring and Autumn Warring States, flying fish can only say that this is not a single person, but covers the supreme ruler of all the Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty is not extinguished, this title has always existed, which is why this title can run through the Zhou Dynasty for 800 years.
So how many Zhou Tianzi appeared in the 800-year history of the Zhou Dynasty? As the lord of the world, Zhou Tianzi has given birth to 37 kings in 30 generations.
The founder of the Zhou Dynasty was Ji Fa, the King of Zhou Wu, after the success of the King of Wu, the King of Shang died, the Shang Dynasty fell, and the Zhou Dynasty was established, so in the strict sense, King Wu of Zhou was the first Zhou Tianzi of the Zhou Dynasty, and when Ji Fa established the Zhou Dynasty, he posthumously named his father king Wen of Zhou, although King Wen of Zhou got the title of king, but he could not be called Zhou Tianzi.
Since the establishment of Western Zhou by King Wu of Zhou, a total of 12 Zhou Tianzi have emerged, namely King Wu of Zhou, King Cheng of Zhou, King Kang of Zhou, King Zhao of Zhou, King Mu of Zhou, King Gong of Zhou, King Yi of Zhou, King Xiao of Zhou, King Yi of Zhou, King Li of Zhou, King Xuan of Zhou, and King You of Zhou, and Western Zhou lasted about 275 years, that is, from 1046 BC to 771 BC.
Beacon Theatre Princes
King You of Zhou is the last king of Western Zhou, he loves Jiangshan more than he loves beauty, the Jiangshan of Western Zhou passed into his hands and became a tool for him to delight beauty, in order to win the laughter of praise, he used the beacon fire of summoning the princes Qin Wang as a means of seeing the beauty laugh, and finally because of his "fainting", Western Zhou embarked on a road of no return.
In 771 BC, after Shen was deposed by King You of Zhou, in order to anger his daughter, his father united with the State of Jiao and Xiyi Inuyasha to attack Hojing, and as a result, King Zhou You was defeated, Hojing was attacked by Inuyasha, King Zhou You was killed, and Inuyasha was also taken captive by Inuyasha, and after his disappearance, Western Zhou perished.
After the fall of Western Zhou, the princes of the Zhou royal family were suddenly in a situation of being leaderless, and although the princes gradually grew larger, there was no existence that could replace Zhou Tianzi in managing the country, so under the support of the princely states, the former crown prince Ji Yiusu, who was deposed by the Zhou Youwang, became a lucky person, regarded as the king of Zhou Ping, and also the first Zhou Tianzi of Eastern Zhou.
After that, until Lü Buwei destroyed the Zhou royal family, a total of 25 Zhou Tianzi appeared, namely King Ping of Zhou, King Huan of Zhou, King Zhuang of Zhou, King of Zhou Ao, King Hui of Zhou, King of Zhou Xiang, King of Zhou, King Kuang of Zhou, King Ding of Zhou, King Jian of Zhou, King of Zhou Ling, King Jing of Zhou, King of Mourning of Zhou, King Jing of Zhou, King jing of Zhou, King jing of Zhou, King of Zhou, King of Zhou, King Of
Princes of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period
In addition to the 25 Zhou Tianzi mentioned above, there is also a self-reliant Zhou Tianzi, who is the King of Zhou, because he usurped the position of King Hui of Zhou, and later he was killed, and King Hui of Zhou was reinstated, so strictly speaking, it cannot be regarded as a real Zhou Tianzi, so at this time.
When we look at the names of these Zhou Tianzi, are not quite strange, and it is true that the most frequent occurrences in history are probably the Zhou Ping King, and the other Zhou Tianzi have no remarkable achievements, unfortunately, no, their only achievement is to enjoy the title of "Tianzi" in name.
In the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, that is, the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, Zhou Tianzi's sense of existence was actually weak and pitiful, not only was his land eaten less and less by the princes, even the most basic life could not be maintained, once had to rely on borrowing the money of the princes to survive, life became like this, the Spring and Autumn Warring States period of these dozens of Zhou Tianzi, it is really miserable.
Zhou Tianzi
However, speaking of this, we have to boast about their ability to survive, in the era of the rise of the princes to compete for hegemony, they actually relied on their own faces, stubbornly insisted on hundreds of years, except for the word admiration, it seems that there is no other word to describe this kind of worship.
During the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, Zhou Tianzi was not famous, and there was another factor, that is, there were too many celebrities in the princely states of the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, among which the greatest threat to Zhou Tianzi was the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons and the Warring States Seven Heroes.
As for who these five people are, there are two theories that appear in the textbooks, one is qi huan gong, Song Xianggong, Jin Wengong, Qin Mugong, and Chu Zhuang wang; the other is Qi Huan gong, Jin Wen gong, Chu Zhuang wang, Wu wang lu lu and Yue wang gou jian, the names of these people, casually jumping out of one, are far more famous than the 25 Zhou Tianzi in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
Spring and Autumn Five
The Seven Kingdoms of the Warring States are seven countries, namely Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, Qi, and Qin, these seven princely states are the protagonists of the Warring States era, the monarchs of these princely states, that is more famous than one, take the Qin state alone, starting from Qin Xiaogong, the next six generations of monarchs, that is even more famous.
Picking one out of them at random, its popularity far exceeded that of Zhou Tianzi in the same period, and even King Xiaowen of Qin, who reigned for only three days, was far more well-known than Zhou Tianzi, who had reigned for decades.
It can be seen that Zhou Tianzi is not the title of a certain person, but the title of the supreme ruler of the Zhou Dynasty, and there are as many as 37 people who can enjoy this title, which runs through the 800-year history of the Zhou Dynasty.
The word "Tianzi" is not the exclusive use of the supreme ruler of the Zhou Dynasty, and the supreme ruler of the later feudal dynasty can also be called the Son of Heaven, and this title is often combined with the dragon totem worshipped by the feudal ruler to form the "True Dragon Heavenly Son", which is also another title for the emperor.
The Ancient Son of Heaven
So how did the Son of Heaven come about? In order to maintain their own rule, feudal rulers in ancient China often combined monarchy and divine power to instill the idea of "divine right of kings" to people, and in order to strengthen this concept, they called the supreme ruler "the son of heaven", and later slowly became the son of heaven.
As recorded in the Eastern Han Dynasty's "Treatise on the White Tiger Tongde": The Son of Heaven is also called a knight. The King's Father is heaven and earth, and he is also the Son of Heaven.
What do you think about that?
References: "History", "Warring States Policy", "White Tiger Tongde Theory", etc.
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