What is the importance of Zhou Dynasty culture?

Culture of the Zhou Dynasty: Hundred Schools of Thought

1. Confucianism, representative figures: Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi. Works: Spring and Autumn Annals, Mencius, Xunzi. Advocacy: Confucianism is one of the important schools of thought during the Warring States period, represented by Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period, which takes the six arts as its law, advocates "propriety and music" and "benevolence and righteousness", and advocates "loyalty and forgiveness" and the "middle ground" of "impartiality". It is a school of thought that emphasizes moral and ethical education and self-cultivation by advocating the "middle way" of "loyalty, forgiveness and impartiality" and advocating the "rule of virtue" and "benevolent government".

Confucianism emphasizes the function of education, believing that emphasizing education and punishment is the way to stability for the country and prosperity for the people. It advocated that "there should be education for all" and that both the rulers and the ruled should be educated so that the whole nation would become morally upright.

Politically, it also advocated the rule of the state by rituals and persuasion by virtues, calling for the restoration of the "Zhou Rites", which it considered to be the ideal way to realize ideal politics. By the time of the Warring States period, there were eight schools of Confucianism, the most important of which were the schools of Mencius and Xunzi.

2. Taoism, represented by Laozi, Zhuangzi and Yang Zhu. Works: Tao Te Ching, Zhuang Zi. Claims: Taoism is one of the most important schools of thought during the Warring States period, also known as the "moralists". This school of thought takes as its theoretical basis the doctrine of Laozi on the Tao in the late Spring and Autumn period, and uses the Tao to explain the nature, origin, composition and changes of everything in the universe. It is believed that the Tao of Heaven does nothing, and all things are born naturally

Denying that God, ghosts and deities dominate everything, it advocates that the Tao should be natural and go with the flow, and advocates quietness and inaction, and guards the female and the soft to overcome the hard. The political ideal is "a small country with few people" and "rule by doing nothing". After Laozi, Taoism was divided into different schools, and there were four famous schools: Zhuangzi, Yangzhu, Songyin and Huanglao.

Expanded information:

Origin of the Zhou people

The ancestors of the Zhou people were the great-grandson of Emperor Huangdi Emperor ?a?, the son of Yuan consort Jiang Nu's abandonment, known as Houji . In the early years of the Shang Dynasty, Gong Liu, a descendant of Houji, led his people to move from Tai to Magnet. The Zhou people lived in the area of Wugong in Shaanxi in the early period, while the Zhou tribe had moved to Bin by the time of Gong Liu.

From nomadic tribes, they gradually changed into farming-oriented cities and towns. From Gong Liu onwards, there were nine generations of succession, and by the time Gugong Dan was the head of the tribe, the Zhou people were forced to migrate by the invasion of Xunyu Rong. They crossed the Lacquer, Frustration and Liang Mountains and moved to the Zhou Plains south of Qishan Mountain in the Wei River Valley. The character "周" was originally written as "上田下口", which was synthesized as "上田下口", and later evolved into the character "周".

Zhouyuan was rich in produce, fertile land, convenient irrigation, favorable farming conditions, and rapid economic development. Dan built his own farms and houses, as well as a city, and his country quickly recovered and grew. After moving to the Zhou Yuan, the Zhou and the Shang had contact, in order to guarantee the safety of his tribe, Danfu established a stable alliance with the Shang Dynasty, which was the master of the Central Plains Dynasty***

Being humble to the Shang King Wuyi, he built up his strength under the protection of the Shang Dynasty, and accepted the cultural system of the Shang Dynasty, especially the concepts of the Mandate of Heaven, which, after the Zhou Dynasty was established and after being sorted out by the Zhou Gongdan (Ji Dan), became the political system for ruling the world and establishing the state. After the Zhou Dynasty was established, this concept of the Mandate of Heaven was reorganized by Zhou Gongdan (Ji Dan), which became the basis of political jurisprudence for the rule of the world and the establishment of the state, and then formed the concept of the Divine Mandate of Kings, which influenced the subsequent dynasties for thousands of years.

Baidu Encyclopedia - The Zhou Dynasty