ABSTRACT
Feudalism came into shape incrementally rather than abruptly. It was established as a result of sweeping changes at all levels, economic, political, and social. Anything short of that would have meant a mere inception of feudalism instead of its entrenchment. This book argues that the Zhou Dynasty marked the official arrival of feudalism in China, according to the theory stated above and available historical documents. Among the less privileged classes of scholar-commoners, farmers, craftsmen and businessmen, farmers shouldered the heaviest burden through fulfilling their obligations. They farmed the lands of their owners and contributed foods in all seasons. The patriarchal clan system was designed to sustain the feudal system. Fittingly, the collapse of feudalism was also incremental. The Spring and Autumn Period marked the beginning of the end of feudalism in China, but the system did not completely fall apart until Qin unified China.
