Changes During The Zhou Dynasty

A lot of the organizations and cultural traditions that rose in east Asia amid an early period continues to the present. The combination of factors led East Asian culture was able to retain its social coherence and culture. An important prerequisite to it is a set of principle named «mandate of heaven» that was introduced during the Zhou dynasty. «Mandate of heaven» puts responsibilities on a ruling authority to promote high moral standards, maintain order and rule with the conscience. If the king can not adhere to those standards, the new dynasty has a «heavenly power» (p.97) to overrule the previous king. This set of rules will have a great impact on Chinese political approach for a long period of time. During the Zhou dynasty, a new …show more content…
This allowed writing to become a basis for a distinctive cultural tradition. It allowed them to concentrate more on philosophical thoughts, future foretelling (oracle bones) and poetry, as «Book of Songs». Also, people of ancient China did not participate in a lot of wars and generally had little contact with societies in the West. They did have some tensed relationships with nomadic people, but overall China was avoiding the war by establishing trade and bribery relationships. A lot of cultural artifacts in societies, like Mesopotamia, were destroyed by war. The customs and tradition in societies in India and Egypt were constantly influenced and integrated by other cultures. None of this applicable to China, this helped them to preserve their culture. The family cell was a foundational institution. The head of the family also conducted the ceremonies of honoring passed ancestors. The lack of any religious beliefs allowed to concentrate more on «interest of living generation» (p.102). Family members worked and contribute towards a «common interest»