Spring and Autumn period

A period of Chinese history conventionally dated 770–476 BCE, marked by weakening Zhou royal authority and rivalry among regional states.

Eastern Zhou: The later phase of the Zhou dynasty, conventionally divided into the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The Spring and Autumn period forms the first part of this era.
Western Zhou: The first phase of the Zhou dynasty, ending with the royal court's eastward relocation in 770 BCE. Its collapse preceded the political conditions of the Spring and Autumn period.
Confucius: A Chinese teacher and thinker whose teachings became the basis of Confucian traditions. His life and teaching belong to the period's later decades.
Zhou feudal system: A political order that delegated authority to regional lords while retaining a Zhou royal center. Its fragmentation helps explain why regional states became increasingly autonomous.
Warring States period: A later phase of ancient Chinese history, conventionally dated 475–221 BCE, dominated by rival states and warfare. It followed the Spring and Autumn period with more centralized, sustained conflict.
Hegemony in ancient China: A system in which a powerful state led alliances while nominally recognizing the Zhou king. Hegemons coordinated states as royal authority weakened.
Quanrong: A group described in ancient Chinese sources as attacking the Zhou heartland in the eighth century BCE. Their attack on the Zhou capital helped precipitate the court's eastward move.
Laozi: A legendary Chinese sage associated with the foundational text of Daoism, the Tao Te Ching. Traditions place his thought in the intellectual world of the late Zhou era.
Chinese historiography: The traditions and methods through which Chinese history has been recorded and interpreted. Later historical writing supplied the period's name and conventional chronology.
Hundred Schools of Thought: A flourishing of competing philosophical and political traditions in ancient China. Ideas associated with the era's thinkers shaped later Chinese political and ethical life.

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