The Zhou's Decline & China's Great Divergence

A History of Mankind (52)

(This post is a sequel to this earlier post. To see all older posts in a list arranged by subject, click here)

In Chinese historiography, the flight to Luoyang in 771 BC marks the start of the so-called Eastern Zhou dynasty, and the Spring and Autumn Period of gradual dismemberment of the Zhou state by the high nobility[1].

Just as importantly, for the barbarian Quanrong, the successful takeover of the Zhou capital ushered a dynasties-spanning era of intense banditry and tribute-raising along the western Zhou borders. This slowed Chinese expansion into the dry plains of Gansu and the Eastern Turkestan beyond, so that China remained isolated from other Eurasian states for a few centuries longer.

Thus, by the mid-8^th century BC, Assyria, Egypt and China all had political systems dominated by territorial nobles, and a global observer could have been forgiven for thinking the way of the future had been found: centralized states could only go so far, before they splintered into smaller units that sometimes only paid lip service to the center. However, technology kept evolving, pushing societies into unexpected directions.