Zhou dynasty and the Mandate of Heaven

The Zhou overthrew the Shang and justified rule through the Mandate of Heaven: a king keeps authority only while he governs justly.

Why it matters

The Mandate made political legitimacy conditional and revocable — a theory of accountability that Chinese thinkers debated for three thousand years. The long Zhou era also seeded Confucian and Daoist thought.

Threads

This event sits on Governance.

Related events

• 551 BCE – 479 BCE

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Sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica — Zhou dynasty