Question

Explain how the decline of the feudal system of the Zhou dynasty set the stage for the rise of Daoism.

Answer 1

• For over 300 years, feudalism kept China stable, but due to the increasing power of the lords, the system broke down. As the king sold more and more of his land, lords became more and more powerful and wealthy. Their power caused them to start rivaling others, so they formed six or seven larger city-states and start battling each other for more power, which leads to the Warring States Period.
• As a result of the warring states, people started to think that feudalism has caused more instability than stability, causing the rise of philosophies to help give ideas to their rulers.
• The latter half of the Zhou dynasty, known as the Eastern Zhou (770-221 B.C.E.), brought economic and social changes as well as the rise of daoism. The region became more urban; agriculture expanded and forests were destroyed to create more fields for cultivation; the population increased markedly as well.
• Merchant and artisan classes began to rival the old feudal aristocracies. Literacy increased among the upper classes, as did the number of people who received some type of education, and by the end of the Zhou a sizeable body of literature had developed.