Ancient Chinese Social History: Social Mobility in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods

Author: Xu Zongyuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The Cultural Revolution and Civil Rights Movement profoundly affected the United States in the 1950s. At the time, the author was at the University of Chicago and was inevitably drawn into the ongoing student movement. This experience had an undeniable impact on the writing of this book. Additionally, the author's generation had lived through two wars and experienced immense upheavals, with the world seemingly turned upside down. Faced with these changes, the author developed a keen interest in social transformations, leading them to choose the period of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States as a research topic. The Spring and Autumn and Warring States period served as the backdrop for the emergence of the Pre-Qin philosophers, and history seemed to suggest that this era of profound change was also one of unprecedented intellectual freedom and a brilliant and shining age. The Spring and Autumn and Warring States period was a time of earth-shattering historical transformation. The transfer of state power took place as follows: from kings who believed in divine right to rule, to feudal lords organized through family lineage, to scholars who gained status based on political and military talent as well as moral character. This book examines social transformations by considering political structures, economic forms, modes of warfare, and ideological systems, all of which interacted and influenced one another. The relationships between these changes are gradually revealed through the study of their chronological progression.
The Spring and Autumn and Warring States period was a time of earth-shattering historical transformation. The transfer of state power took place as follows: from kings who believed in divine right to rule → feudal lords organized through family lineage → scholars who gained status based on political and military talent as well as moral character. This book examines social transformations by considering political structures, economic forms, modes of warfare, and ideological systems, all of which interacted and influenced one another. The relationships between these changes are gradually revealed through the study of their chronological progression.