ABSTRACT
The Chou moved their capital eastward to Loyang, in 770 b.c. Such an event marks the existence of powerful pressure from the West. Thereafter the ruin of the dynasty was very evident; the next period is that of the rise and decline (‘Spring and Autumn’) of the several Feudal States around the Chou. The ruler of each State began to call himself ‘King’. All the old arrangements and values were destroyed or abandoned. The relative positions of the States themselves changed greatly from time to time, but all were armed, and were narrowly intent on an unscrupulous struggle for power and supremacy. The period from 479–255 b.c. is that of the ‘Warring States’. One state rose steadily in this period. This was the Ch’in, whose people had moved into the Western area, vacated by the Chou in their eastward migration, and had subsequently built up their strength, by every possible method—military prowess, diplomatic skill, totalitarian discipline, and in other ways—until at last they became the Ch’in Dynasty and unified the country (255–206 b.c.).
