Eastern Zhou

... same, yeah.

Bawang is an old term that goes all the way back to like I guess, um, the Eastern Zhou period.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, and you had, um, bawangs like, uh, like most famously probably Shang Yang, um, who are just like c- who, who kind of like i- in this view sort of exceeded the, uh, the kind of like traditional authority that these authors were imagining, like, uh, existed in the, in the golden ages that sometimes-

Shaogong proved remarkably versatile.

He helped suppress rebellions led by the Shang prince Wugong and allied tribes, conducted diplomatic missions in the southern regions, participated in the construction of the Eastern Zhou capital, and administered justice among the local communities.

According to legend, when he traveled to hear legal disputes, he sometimes rested under a pear tree while hearing cases.

The people respected him so deeply that afterward they refused to cut down those trees, commemorating him in a poem known as Gan Tang.

It went from north to south, but not in a straight line.

Between the time of the spring and autumn period of the Eastern Zhou to this time of Emperor Yang in the early 7th century, a lot of canals had already been dug throughout the watered world of South and Central China.

Many of these I mentioned in past episodes and all were maintained during Emperor Wen's time.

China got the short end of the geographical stick when it came to rivers that ran longitudinally.

His son and heir fled eastward, establishing a new capital at a place called Luoyang, further from the old heartlands, and perhaps symbolically, further from the full strength of royal power as well.

This moment marks the beginning of what historians call the Eastern Zhou period, And within it, a time known as the spring and autumn period, named after a chronicle that recorded the events of those years.

Close your eyes and imagine this eastward journey, the royal procession moving slowly across the landscape, carrying with it not just people and treasures, but the weight of a kingdom in transition.

Though the Zhou kings continued to rule, at least in name, their actual power began to resemble something more like a comforting old story that everyone still told, rather than a living reality backed by military might.

Unlike some emperors' dowagers who have been vilified for a number of reasons, Empress Dou was quite capable.

She put together a solid team of ministers who got things done, and the military adventurism that had plagued the land since the Eastern Zhou was discouraged.

And being a solid follower of Huang-Lao Taoism, she filled the court with other believers in this Chinese homegrown religion.

And we'll see this throughout the entirety of Chinese history.

And the most important among them, the one who was most pointed to as the one who built the foundation of Confucianism at the imperial court and throughout the empire, was Dong Zhongshu.

He was a noted scholar of the Spring and Autumn Annals.

The Chunqiu, this book that gave the Spring and Autumn period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty its name, was the official chronicle of the state of Lu, Confucius' home state, and it covered the years seven twenty-two to four eighty-one BC.

Some say it was written by Confucius himself, which, if true, smothers the work with plenty of gravitas, and later on it became one of the Wu Jing, or Five Classics of Confucianism.