Why did our country enter the feudal era in 475 BC?

At the beginning of the Warring States period, the collapse of slavery was irreversible. The new landlord class began to enter the political arena, and with the help of the people, they first seized power in several large vassal states. For example, in 403 BC, the three families of Han, Zhao, and Wei divided the Jin Kingdom; In 386 BC, Tian He, the secretary of Qi, replaced the monarch and established himself as a prince.

Since then, many of the original vassal states have either perished or been annexed, and finally Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei are left with seven great powers, known as the "Seven Heroes of the Warring States" in history. Through the reform of the law, these vassal states gradually completed the transformation from slavery to feudalism.

King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang, divided the world, and implemented the patriarchal system, and China began to enter the feudal era. In the middle and late Warring States period, due to the needs of war, the political power of various countries gradually became concentrated, especially in Qin. The first emperor swept Liuhe, unified the world, and implemented the county system of centralized power, and the feudal system collapsed overall, but there were still repetitions in later generations.

Generally speaking, we take 475 BC as the division of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. When China entered the feudal society cannot be expressed simply by a year, unlike the bourgeois revolutions in Europe, which can say the specific months, days, days of the week. In the past, textbooks would probably be divided by the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, but in fact, China had gradually broken away from slavery during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, showing the characteristics of feudal society.

A personal opinion: the number 475 B.C. actually has little practical significance, preferring to treat it as a symbolic existence, and there is really no essential difference between 476 B.C. and 475 B.C

Conform to the trend of history, economic, cultural, political development.

Xia Dynasty. However, the exact year is not accurate.

The year 476 B.C. is 76 years forward from the fifth century B.C., so it is the early period. The year 476 A.D. is another 76 years after the fifth century A.D., so it is the later period. It can be similar to the comparison of the size of positive and negative numbers.

For example, the 5th century BC, the early 5th century BC, 500-451 BC, the park late 5th century BC, 450-401 BC. It's the 21st century, the early 21st century, 2001-2050, the late 21st century, 2051-2100.

In 475 B.C., China entered a feudal society from a slave society, and its landmark event was the division of the three families.

The division of the three Jin families refers to the event that the Jin Kingdom was divided by the Han, Zhao, and Wei families in the late Spring and Autumn Period.

In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the Jin State was under the exclusive power of the Jin State Han Clan, the Jin State Zhao Clan, the Jin State Wei Clan, the Jin State Zhi Clan, the Jin State Fan Clan, and the Zhongxing Clan. In 490 BC, the Zhao clan defeated the Fan clan and the Zhongxing clan. In 458 B.C., the lands of the Fan and Zhongxing clans were divided among the Han, Zhao, Wei, and Zhi families.

In 457 BC, Han, Zhao, and Wei jointly defeated the Zhi clan and divided their territory equally, establishing the three regimes of Han, Zhao, and Wei respectively.

In 406 BC, King Weilie of Zhou made the three families princely states, officially recognizing their status as princes. "Zizhi Tongjian" records: "In the twenty-third year of King Weilie of Zhou, he initially appointed Wei Si, Zhao Ji, and Han Qian as the princes of the ......”

Historiography took this as the dividing point between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

In the spring of 480 B.C., the tenth year after the Battle of Marathon, the Persian emperor Xerxes inherited the last wish of his father Darius I, made an oath to conquer Greece, led an army of five million and thousands of warships, assembled in Sardis in Asia Minor, whipped the sea, and went on an expedition to Greece, threatening to "make the territory of the Persian Empire meet the heavens".

King Leonidas of Sparta held Thermopay with only 300 warriors, and when the enemy boasted that the arrows they had shot would obscure the sun, the 300 warriors happily replied: "Then we can hunt down the enemy in the shade!" ”

Three hundred Spartan warriors repelled several attacks by the Persian army, but in the end, Leonidas and his warriors were all killed, and the Persian army paid a terrible price with 20,000 soldiers.

Later generations erected a monument in front of the tomb of Leonidas and his warriors, with the inscription: "O passing guest! Tell our fellow Spartans that we are here to be broken in our bones. ”

In 480 BC, it was the Eastern Zhou Dynasty that ruled China, and the reigning Son of Heaven was the Eastern Zhou Dynasty King Jing Ji Kuo, who was the last Son of Heaven in the Spring and Autumn Period, and at that time there was no concept of "emperor", and the princes were only loyal to the Son of Heaven.

At that time, the Europeans saw Asia as confined to Persia. In 770 BC, King Ping of Zhou moved his capital to Luoyi, marking the establishment of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. This period lasted until the unification of China by Qin in 221 BC.

And, in 509 BC, the Roman Republic of Europe was also established. This period was also the ** era of Athenian democracy. (Europeans were narrow-minded at the time.)

They thought that Persia was Asia, so much so that when Alexandrian went to India, he didn't know where he had been. ）

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, because the Qin State unified the world in 221 BC.

Spring and Autumn period. It's almost time to go to the Warring States.

I don't know what period it was, but I do know that there have been only a few times in Chinese history when there were foreign conquests, and there was absolutely no Persian king.

It was the Spring and Autumn period.

The Spring and Autumn Period is one of the stages of Chinese history. There are three theories about the beginning and end of this period: one is that it was 770 BC and 476 BC; One theory is that in 770 BC and 453 BC, the three families of Han, Zhao and Wei destroyed the Zhi clan; Another theory is that in 770 BC and 403 BC, the three families of Han, Zhao and Wei were divided into Jin.

The historians of the Lu State recorded the major events reported by various countries at that time by year, quarter, month, and day, and recorded them in four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

The historians of the Lu State recorded the major events reported by various countries at that time by year, quarter, month, and day, and recorded them in four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Confucius compiled and revised the Spring and Autumn Period compiled by the historians of the Lu State and became one of the Confucian classics. The Spring and Autumn Period records the events of 242 years from the first year of Lu Yin (722 BC) to the fourteenth year of Lu Ai (481 BC).

Because the beginning and end of the historical facts recorded in it are roughly equivalent to an objective period of historical development, historians of all dynasties have taken the title of "Spring and Autumn" as the name of this historical period. For the sake of narrative convenience, the Spring and Autumn Period began in 770 BC (the first year of King Zhou Ping) and ended in 476 BC (the 44th year of King Jing of Zhou) on the eve of the Warring States Period, a total of 295 years.

It's just a way to put it, see below for details:

Regarding the demarcation of the Spring and Autumn Period and the beginning time of the Warring States Period, there are no more than the following theories:

1.In 475 or 476 B.C., the first year of King Yuan of Zhou, this is the mainstream view;

2.In 403 BC, the twenty-third year of King Weilie of Zhou, the chronicle of "Zizhi Tongjian" began in this year;

3.In 481 BC or 468 BC, the "Spring and Autumn Period" chronicle ended in the 14th year of Lu Ai (481 BC), and the "Zuo Chuan" chronicle ended in the first year of King Zhen of Zhou (468 BC).

The above statements can be grouped into three categories:

In the first category, according to the traditional time when a certain emperor (the Son of Heaven) ascended the throne as the beginning of a dynasty or era, there are two theories about the reign of King Zhou Jing, the previous king of Zhou Yuan, due to the discrepancies between the Zuo Biography and the historical records.

In the second category, according to the actual formation of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, in 403 BC, Han Zhao Wei divided the Jin State and was recognized by Zhou Tianzi as a vassal state.

The third category uses the Spring and Autumn Period to mark the Warring States Period, that is, after the Spring and Autumn Period ended, the Warring States Period began. Some people believe that the 14th year of Lu Ai Gong (481 BC), when Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Period, is the boundary between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, while others believe that the end year of the Zuo Spring and Autumn Period (468 BC) should be used as the beginning of the Warring States Period.

In my opinion, the above statements, except for the second category, are based on the age of Confucius and his works as a reference to divide the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and although the division of the second type of era is a few decades after Confucius, it also has a certain relationship with Confucius. Instead of dividing the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period with the works of Confucius, it is better to use Confucius himself to mark that era, that is, the death of Confucius (479 BC), which marked the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, although it was only two years away from 481 BC, had different meanings, which further highlighted the epoch-making role of Confucius.

In 475 B.C., it was Guo Moruo's view, so most textbooks follow this view;

In 476 B.C., it was the view held by Jian Bozan, and the Cihai also supports this view;

In 403 B.C., it was the view of Fan Wenlan's "General History of China";

In 481 B.C., it was the view of Lu Zuqian's "Memorabilia";

In 468 BC, it was Lin Chunpu's view of the Warring States Period;

The boundary between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period in 479 BC is my opinion. I looked it up, and from ancient times to the present, I am the only one who holds this view.

In the history of our country, the criterion for dividing the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is as follows: the first 476 years as the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the first 475 years as the beginning of the Warring States Period, not only in the field of historiography, but also in the textbooks of junior high school and high school. Taking this standard as the division of the times, there is actually a standard answer, but the explanations on the market are varied, some far-fetched, and some are not in line with the meaning, let me give the standard answer today.

Warring States period. The decisive role of the Historical Records.

In China, the people generally believe that history starts from the ancient Yellow Emperor.

Begin. Taishi Gong.

It is also adhering to this idea that the system describes the period from the Yellow Emperor to the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

A total of 3,000 years of history. Although there are many bizarre descriptions of ancient society, in Chinese dynasties, the "Records of the Historians" has always been regarded as a historical book, and ranks first among the 24 histories (the word "head" represents only the order, not the evaluation of later generations). Taishi Gong's Warring States history began with the previous 475 years, which is the decisive factor for us to use the previous 476-475 years as the dividing point of the two eras, so why did Taishi Gong choose this year?

Historical. Condition 1: The collapse of the king. Throughout the Spring and Autumn Period and most of the Warring States, the Zhou Dynasty always existed, and it also got all the vassal states.

The recognition of the suzerain, dividing the era by the replacement of emperors in the Zhou royal family, was the main means of compiling historical books in this period. Take the Spring and Autumn Period as an example, King Ping of Zhou in 770 BC.

Enthronement is also the beginning of spring and autumn. Then in 476 BC, King Jing of Zhou.

Death, for the society of the time, was a landmark event, with conditions as a dividing point.

Condition 2: Writing requirements. In the "Historical Records: Preface to the Chronology of the Six Kingdoms", Tai Shi Gong described the purpose of his writing and the difficulties he encountered: The world was divided into the Qin State.

After the unification, the historical books of the other six kingdoms were basically destroyed in the subsequent book-burning pit Confucianism because there was a lot of ridicule of the Qin state, and in this case, it is now starting with the first year of King Yuan of Zhou (475 BC) and ending with Qin II.

The destruction is the end to recount this period of history of the Warring States.

Book burning pit Confucianism. We can understand this text in this way, this period of history, because the main historical material is only the words of the Qin State "Qin Ji", so many narratives may be different from other chapters, Taishi Gong hopes that readers can understand this, so it is classified separately.

To sum up: If the "Records of the Historians" is regarded as a formal history, then the division of the era of the "Records of the Historians" is the decisive factor in the category of historiography, and this division must have a historical basis, and the division and sorting of later generations in terms of history will also follow this basis.