1045 – 256BC - In 1045BC, the Zhou of western China overthrew the Shang and established their own dynasty. Zhou society had a class system much like the Shang with aristocrats and commoners, except that they added a slave class.

The Zhou Dynasty directly controlled only parts of northern China, dividing the kingdom into several states. Each state was ruled by a local governor, who enforced central authority. Over time these states grew increasingly independent, and the dynasty’s power weakened.

In 771BC foreign invasion forced the Zhou to abandon their capital and move eastward, starting the Eastern Zhou period. Cities grew, and created a merchant class that used money instead of barter. Bronze-making reached an artistic and technical peak.

There were many great thinkers and philosophers during this time, such as Confucius and Lao Tzu. During 500BC, Confucius proposed a moral standard to replace spiritual and religious thinking of his time. This shift in Chinese thought from religion to philosophy mirrored similar change in Greece about the same time. Many great books were produced in this period, including the I Ching or Book of Changes, the Shijing or Book of Poems, the Shujing or Book of Learning, the Liji or Book of Rites, and the Chunqiu or Spring and Autumn Annals.

In 256BC the Zhou Dynasty finally ended when the central government lost power and split into seven large states. This period was known as the Warring States Period, until the reunification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221BC.