Major Events in Zhou Dynasty

Eastern Zhou (ca 771-481 BC)
About 771 BC, the Zhou leaders were forced eastward out of their previous strongholds near Mount Qi and into a reduced area near their capital city of Luoyang. This period is also called Springs and Autumns (Chunqin), after a history of that name which documented the Eastern Zhou dynasties. The Eastern Zhou rulers were despotic, with a centralized administration and a ranked bureaucracy. Taxation and corvee labor were present.
Warring States (ca 481-221 BC)
About 481 BC, the Zhou dynasty fragmented into separate kingdoms, the Wei, Han and Zhao kingdoms. During this period, iron working became available, the standard of living rose and the population grew. Currency was established enabling farflung trading systems. The Warring States period ended when the Qin dynasty reunited China in 221 BC.
Zhou Sites and Historical Documents
Historical documents dated to the Zhou include the Guo yu (the oldest known history of China, dated to the 5th century BC), the Zuo zhuan, the Shangshu and the Shi jing (poetry and hymns). Capital cities of the Zhou which have been identified archaeologically are relatively rare, but probably include Wangcheng (in present-day Xiaotun), Doumenzhen, Luoyang, Hao-Ching and Zhangjiapo, where some 15,000 tombs were identified and 1000 excavated during the 1980s.Bronze vessel hoards, deposited when the Zhou fled the west, have been identified in Qishan county of Shaanxi province, such as at several sites in the modern town of Baoji. These beautiful vessels (the two 'you' illustrated here are from Baoji) often have inscriptions which contain genealogical data, which allowed researchers to reconstruct lineage data for the various Zhou royal families.