The Zhou ruled for 800 years with the help of a bureaucracy . how might giving authority to local bureaucrats weaken the Zhou kings ? In the kingdoms of ancient China, the feudal local lords, rich and powerful, had the Many other forms of transportation shut down because of the growth of railroads.The Zhou created the Mandate of Heaven: the idea that there could be only one legitimate ruler of China at a time, and that this ruler had the blessing of the gods. They used this Mandate to justify their overthrow of the Shang, and their subsequent rule.The most significant achievement of the Zhou Dynasty was the development of the Chinese philosophies, including Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. This occurred during late 500 and early 400 B.C. The Chinese philosophers emerged during a period in the Zhou Dynasty when there was political anarchy and social turmoil.The government of the Zhou was based on the feudal system. The emperor divided the land into fiefs that were usually ruled by his relatives. The nobles who ruled the fiefs basically owned the farmers who worked their lands.
In ancient China, the perennial challenges of ruling a very large territory , keeping cohesion and unity were already present and due to technological limitations, they were even bigger than they are today. In the kingdoms of ancient China, the feudal local lords, rich and powerful, had the real political power despite any sworn loyalty to the kings. The Zhou kings were kings but they did not control the feudal lords effectively, they were politically weak.
