CHIN 50 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Book Of Documents, Classic Of Poetry, I Ching
Document Summary
Zhou observe a significant astronomical event: the conjunction of the five planets in the sky in 1059 bce. Zhou interpret this event as a sign of the mandate of heaven . Zhou duke wen (leader) declares himself king. Concept invented by the zhou dynasty to justify its conquest of the shang. Zhou believed that the shang had lost the right to rule due to their tyranny and bad rule (and their drunkenness) Heaven granted the right to rule to only one dynasty at a time. Zhou devised an institution named fengjian or system of fiefdoms to fule over its territory. Really bad, 30,000 deaths in long battles. Gaozi said human nature is like whirling water. The way of the three dynasties gained the empire was through humaneness. And lost it was by not being humane. Composed of essays compiled after his lifetime.
