Warring States period
period in Chinese history from approximately 475 to 221 BCE
The Warring States period in Chinese history (c. 475 – 221 BC) comprises the final centuries of the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046 – 256 BC), which were characterized by warfare, bureaucratic and military reform, and political consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the wars of conquest that saw the state of Qin annex each of the other contender states by 221 BC and found the Qin dynasty, the first imperial dynastic state in East Asian history. It saw developments in philosophy, commerce, agriculture, the arts, and society at large.
While scholars have identified several different dates as marking the beginning of the Warring States period, Sima Qian's choice of 475 BC is the most often cited. The era largely corresponds to the second half of the Eastern Zhou period, when the king of Zhou formally ruled as Chinese sovereign, but had lost political power and functioned in practice as a figurehead. This dynamic served as the backdrop for the machinations of the eponymous Warring States. The term "Warring States period" comes from the Record of the Warring States, a work of history compiled during the early Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). It was also named such because of how the scale of warfare exploded during this period.
Geography
In 450 BC there existed eight large states: Yan in the north and Yue in the east, though these two did not play any decisive role in the Warring States period that went on almost without end for the next 225 years. The "Big Six" were Qi, Chu, Jin, and the "Three Jins," being Wei, Han and Zhao.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Warring States period” is period in Chinese history from approximately 475 to 221 BCE. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Warring, States and period, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Warring States period” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.