An outline, era by era

Warring States period

Classical Antiquity · ~500 BCE – ~500 CE

The Warring States period is the age of constant war between the rival kingdoms of China that followed the Spring and Autumn period. It is traditionally dated from 475 BCE, or from 453 BCE when the state of Jin was divided, to 221 BCE, when Qin conquered the last of its rivals. The name comes from the Warring States Records, a collection of anecdotes and speeches compiled in the Han dynasty.

At first dozens of states shared the Yellow River and Yangzi basins. Over time they were reduced to seven great powers: Qin, Chu, Qi, Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei. Armies grew into mass forces of conscripted foot soldiers, iron tools and weapons spread, and the crossbow and cavalry came into use. Rulers reformed their governments to raise taxes and troops. It was also a golden age of thought. Confucius's followers such as Mencius, Daoist writers, the Mohists and the Legalists all debated how to end disorder. The Warring States period matters because its wars and reforms made possible the first unified Chinese empire.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The partition of Jin and the rise of the seven states

    Event

    What happened

    In 453 BCE the three leading families of the state of Jin, Han, Zhao and Wei, defeat their rival, the Zhi family, and divide Jin's lands among themselves. In 403 BCE the Zhou king formally recognises the three as rulers of states. Meanwhile in Qi the Tian family has replaced the old ruling house, which is recognised in 386 BCE. By the fourth century BCE the seven great states each have rulers who call themselves kings.

    The rest is history

    Historians often use the partition of Jin as a marker for the start of the Warring States period, though the exact date is debated, and some prefer 475 BCE. The events showed that the Zhou king no longer controlled who ruled. Powerful ministerial families could seize states, and the Zhou court kept only ritual standing. The surviving states competed for survival, which pushed them toward administrative reform and larger armies. The Zhou royal house itself was finally ended by Qin in 256 BCE.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryZuo zhuan and Zizhi tongjian. Chinese chronicle (Zuo zhuan, c. 4th century BCE) and Song dynasty history (Zizhi tongjian, 1084 CE), both narrating the partition of Jin.
    2. BookLewis, Mark Edward. "Warring States Political History." In The Cambridge History of Ancient China, edited by Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy, 587-650. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
    3. BookHsu, Cho-yun. Ancient China in Transition: An Analysis of Social Mobility, 722-222 B.C. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1965.

  2. Shang Yang's reforms in Qin

    Event

    What happened

    Around 356 BCE Duke Xiao of Qin appoints Shang Yang, a statesman from the state of Wei, to reform the state. Shang Yang organises the population into groups that are collectively responsible for crimes, rewards soldiers with rank for victories in battle, and encourages farming. He also replaces hereditary privilege with a system of ranks earned through merit. He is later put to death after Duke Xiao dies, around 338 BCE.

    The rest is history

    Qin's reforms made it better able to raise soldiers and grain than its rivals, though how far they came from Shang Yang himself, rather than from later developments, is debated. Excavated Qin legal texts, such as the bamboo strips found at Shuihudi in 1975, show a detailed legal system by the third century BCE. Qin defeated Zhao at Changping in 260 BCE and went on to conquer its neighbours. The Book of Lord Shang, attributed to him, became a key Legalist text.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 68, Biography of Lord Shang. Chinese history, c. 100 BCE.
    2. BookPines, Yuri. Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2009.
    3. BookHulsewé, A. F. P. Remnants of Ch'in Law. Leiden: Brill, 1985.Translation of the Qin legal texts from Shuihudi.

  3. Zhao's military reforms and the Battle of Changping

    Event

    What happened

    Around 307 BCE King Wuling of Zhao orders his army to adopt the dress and mounted archery of the northern steppe peoples, so that Zhao can field cavalry. In 260 BCE Qin and Zhao fight a long campaign at Changping, in what is now Shanxi. Qin forces under Bai Qi defeat the Zhao army, which has been commanded late in the campaign by Zhao Kuo. Ancient sources report that very large numbers of Zhao soldiers are killed or executed after surrendering.

    The rest is history

    Zhao's adoption of cavalry is one of the best known examples of the military change of the period, as the states moved from chariot armies to mass infantry and mounted troops. Changping badly weakened Zhao, the strongest rival of Qin in the north, and it is widely seen as a turning point in the rise of Qin. The figures given by Sima Qian for the dead are probably exaggerated and are debated. Qin besieged the Zhao capital Handan soon afterwards but did not take it, as a coalition relieved the city in 257 BCE. Zhao was finally conquered by Qin in 228 BCE, and Qin completed its conquest of the other states in 221 BCE.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 43 (Hereditary House of Zhao) and chapter 73 (Biography of Bai Qi and Wang Jian). Chinese history, c. 100 BCE.
    2. BookLewis, Mark Edward. Sanctioned Violence in Early China. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990.
    3. BookGraff, David A. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900. London: Routledge, 2002.Background on the development of Chinese armies; its early chapters touch on earlier traditions.

  4. The Zhou kings' end and Qin's conquest of the six states

    Event

    What happened

    Between 230 and 221 BCE the state of Qin, under King Zheng, conquers its six remaining rivals in turn. Han falls in 230 BCE, Zhao in 228 BCE, Wei in 225 BCE, Chu in 223 BCE, Yan in 222 BCE and Qi in 221 BCE. In 221 BCE the king takes the new title of First Emperor (Qin Shihuangdi).

    The rest is history

    The conquest ended the Warring States period, which is traditionally dated to 221 BCE. It brought most of the Yellow River and Yangzi basins under one ruler for the first time. The Qin government then replaced the old states with a system of commanderies and counties run by appointed officials, and standardised writing, weights and measures. The Qin dynasty fell soon after the First Emperor's death in 210 BCE, but the model of a unified empire was kept by the Han dynasty. Historians still debate how far Qin's success came from its institutions, its resources or the divisions among its rivals. The Qin dynasty itself belongs to the next entry.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 6, Basic Annals of the First Emperor of Qin. Chinese history, c. 100 BCE.
    2. BookLewis, Mark Edward. The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.
    3. BookPines, Yuri. Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2009.

  5. Qin's conquest of Shu and Ba

    Event

    What happened

    In 316 BCE the state of Qin sends an army south through the mountains into the Sichuan basin, after Shu and Ba, two states there, become entangled in a quarrel with Qin's neighbour. Qin's forces defeat and annex both states. The lands are organised as Qin commanderies, and Qin settles colonists in the region.

    The rest is history

    The annexation gave Qin the fertile Chengdu plain and the upper Yangzi region, a large new base of grain and manpower behind its rivals. Many historians see it as a key step in Qin's rise, since it also opened a route down the river towards Chu. Later Qin governors developed the region, and the Dujiangyan irrigation works of around 256 BCE belong to this phase. The exact scale of the gain in supplies is debated. Qin took Chu's Hanzhong lands in 312 BCE and its capital Ying in 278 BCE, and completed its conquest of all rivals in 221 BCE.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 5, Basic Annals of Qin, and chapter 70, Biography of Zhang Yi. Chinese history, c. 100 BCE.
    2. PrimaryHuayang guo zhi (Chronicles of the Lands South of Mount Hua). Chinese regional history, Jin dynasty, c. 4th century CE, by Chang Qu.
    3. BookSage, Steven F. Ancient Sichuan and the Unification of China. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.Study of Qin's conquest and development of Shu.

  6. Sun Tzu and The Art of War

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Sun Tzu, a master strategist, is said to have served King Helü of Wu. To prove his method, he is told to drill the king's palace women as soldiers. When they laugh at his orders, he has the king's two favourite concubines executed, and the rest obey at once. He then writes thirteen chapters on war.

    The rest is history

    The story comes from Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, written around 100 BCE, centuries after the supposed events. Scholars disagree on whether Sun Tzu was a real person or when the text took shape. Most place it in the Warring States period rather than the earlier Spring and Autumn period, because it assumes large armies and the long campaigns of that age. In 1972 bamboo strips of the Art of War were found in a tomb at Yinqueshan in Shandong, dated to about 134 BCE, which prove that the text existed by the early Han.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 65, Biography of Sunzi and Wu Qi. Chinese history, c. 100 BCE.
    2. BookAmes, Roger T. Sun-tzu: The Art of Warfare. New York: Ballantine Books, 1993.Translation based on the Yinqueshan strips.
    3. BookLewis, Mark Edward. Sanctioned Violence in Early China. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990.

  7. Jing Ke and the attempt to kill the King of Qin

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    In 227 BCE Prince Dan of Yan sends the swordsman Jing Ke to kill the King of Qin, the future First Emperor. Jing Ke brings a map of Yan territory with a dagger hidden in the scroll, along with the head of a Qin defector. As the map unrolls he seizes the dagger, but the king escapes around a pillar, and Jing Ke is cut down.

    The rest is history

    The story is told in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, written about 100 BCE, which drew on earlier accounts and may have embellished them. The attempt itself is accepted as historical, as Qin's conquest followed. Qin attacked Yan in response and took its capital Ji in 226 BCE. Yan was destroyed in 222 BCE, and Qin completed the conquest of all six rivals in 221 BCE, after which the king took the title First Emperor.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 86, Biographies of the Assassin-Retainers. Chinese history, c. 100 BCE.
    2. PrimaryZhanguo ce (Strategies of the Warring States). Chinese anecdote collection, compiled by Liu Xiang, c. 1st century BCE.
    3. BookBodde, Derk. China's First Unifier: A Study of the Ch'in Dynasty as Seen in the Life of Li Ssu. Leiden: Brill, 1938.

  8. Li Bing and the Dujiangyan

    Folk tale

    The legend

    Li Bing, governor of Shu under Qin, is said to have fought a river god who flooded the Min River every year. In some tellings he battles the god in the form of a bull, and in others he sacrifices to the river. He then builds a great water system that tames the river and makes Sichuan rich.

    The rest is history

    The Dujiangyan irrigation system is real and was built around 256 BCE, during the late Warring States period, under Li Bing's governorship. Sima Qian mentions the work in his chapter on rivers and canals. It split the Min River, using a cut through a hill and a channel to reduce floods and water the Chengdu plain. The system still operates and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The plain's grain supported Qin's later campaigns, though how much it contributed is debated. The river-god tales are later folk tradition.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySima Qian. Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), chapter 29, Treatise on Rivers and Canals. Chinese history, c. 100 BCE.
    2. BookNeedham, Joseph. Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 4, Part 3: Civil Engineering and Nautics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971.

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