Wei (Spring and Autumn Period)

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Wei (Spring and Autumn Period)

This article is about the State of Wei founded during the Spring and Autumn Period
Spring and Autumn Period

The Spring and Autumn Period was a period in Chinese history, which roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty . Its name comes from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 BC and 481 BC, which tradition associates with Confucius....
. For the Warring States Period
Warring States Period

The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, covers the period from 476 BCE to the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE....
state whose name is pronounced identically, see Wei (state)
Wei (state)

The Wei was a state during the Warring States Period in China. Its territory lay between the states of Qin and Qi and included modern areas in Henan, Hebei and Shanxi and Shandong....
. Wei (Simplified

Simplified Chinese character

Simplified Chinese Characters are one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. They are based mostly on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the "traditional" forms that were used in printed text for over a thousand years....
: ?; Traditional

Traditional Chinese character

Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han Dynasty, and have been more or less stable since the 5th century The retronym "traditional Chinese" is used to contrast tr...
: ?; Pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin, more formally Hanyu pinyin, is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu is the Chinese Language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"....
: Wèi) was a state, founded in the Zhou Dynasty

Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou Dynasty was preceded by the Shang Dynasty and followed by the Qin Dynasty in China. The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in China history?though the actual political and military control of China by the dynasty only lasted during the Western Zhou....
, which rose to prominence during the Spring and Autumn Period

Spring and Autumn Period

The Spring and Autumn Period was a period in Chinese history, which roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty . Its name comes from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 BC and 481 BC, which tradition associates with Confucius....
. Its rulers were of the surname Ji, the same as that of the rulers of Zhou.

Spring and Autumn Period
The State of Wei was at its peak during the early Spring and Autumn Period, under Duke Wu of Wei, who reigned for 55 years.

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Simplified Chinese character

Traditional Chinese character

Pinyin

Zhou Dynasty

Spring and Autumn Period

Early History

The history of Wei dates back to the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, when the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou

King Wu of Zhou

King Wu of Zhou or King Wu of Chou was the first sovereign, or ruler of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. Various sources quoted that he died at the age of 93, 54 or 43....
was given a fief centred around Chaoge, the capital of the Shang Dynasty

Shang Dynasty

The Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was according to traditional sources the first Dynasties in Chinese history. They ruled in the northeastern region of the area known as "China proper", in the Yellow River valley....
; in later years the fief was further expanded and given the title Wei.

The original feudal

Fengjian

Fengji?n is the political ideology of the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China. Fengjian is a "decentralized enfiefment system of government," comparable to European feudalism, though recent scholarship has suggested that fengjian lacks some of the fundamental aspects of feudalism....
rank of the rulers of Wei was elevated to that of hou (roughly equivalent to Marquess

Marquess

A marquess or marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European monarchies and some of their colonies. The term is also used to render equivalent oriental styles as in imperial China and Japan....
) by bribery; during the turmoil in 771 BC, when the Zhou capital of Haojing was sacked and the crown prince fled east, the state of Wei protected and escorted the prince, and for this the rulers were further elevated to gong (equivalent to a Duke

Duke

A duke is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy or a dukedom. The title comes from the Latin language Dux Bellorum, which had the sense of "military commander" and was employed by both the Germanic peoples themselves and by the Ancient Rome authors covering them to r...
).

Spring and Autumn Period

The State of Wei was at its peak during the early Spring and Autumn Period, under Duke Wu of Wei, who reigned for 55 years. In the reign of subsequent rulers, however, the state was plagued by succession troubles, until Duke Yi of Wei took the throne; his dissolute rule and obsession with cranes weakened the state, and in the eighth year of his reign the Rong

Rong people

The Rong referred to an ancient non-Chinese population who lived to the west of the Zhou state in modern Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia and were often hostile to the China...
peoples successfully attacked the capital at Chaoge, killing the Duke and nearly destroying the state as well.

It was only with the aid of Duke Huan of Qi that the state was eventually restored, with its capital moved to Chuqiu.

In 632 BC Wei was once conquered by Duke Wen of Jin

Duke Wen of Jin

Duke Wen of Jin led the state of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history from 636 BC to 628 BC. His name was Ji Chong'er and he was the son of Duke Xian of Jin ....
, because when Duke Wen (called Chong'er then) exiled to Wei, Duke Wen of Wei hadn't treated him well, and Duke Cheng of Wei (son of Duke Wen of Wei) was nearly poisoned by Duke Wen of Jin, but eventually the state was restored.

In 492 BC, Duke Chu of Wei(??) took the throne from his grandfather Duke Ling(??), while his father Kuaikui(??), who used to be the heir of Duke Ling, had been deposed and exiled. To get the throne, Kuaikui fought against his own son and managed to exile Duke Chu in 481 BC, and was titled as Duke Zhuang (latter)(???), but was killed three years later. Duke Chu was recreated the duke in 475 BC. The conflict between father and son made Wei weaker. Wei soon became attached to House of Zhao of Jin.

Downfall And Ending

In 346 BC, the duke of Wei degraded himself to a marquess. In 320 BC, the marquess of Wei again degraded himself to only a jun (lord). And by then Wei only possessed a county called Puyang

Puyang

Puyang is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Henan province, China. Located on the northern shore of the Yellow River, it borders Anyang in the west, Xinxiang in the southwest, and the provinces of Shandong and Hebei in the east and north respectively....
(??). In 254 BC, King Anxi of Wei

Wei (state)

The Wei was a state during the Warring States Period in China. Its territory lay between the states of Qin and Qi and included modern areas in Henan, Hebei and Shanxi and Shandong....
(?) killed Lord Huai of Wei(???), but two years later he declared his son-in-law to be lord of Wei, so Wei became a dependency of the Wei Kingdom. In 239 BC, Qin

Qin

Qin can refer to:...
occupied Puyang, and the state of Wei migrated to Yewang(??) in order to preserve its existence.

The state was so weak that it even outlived Qin Shihuang, presumably neglected by the latter. It was only cancelled as a state in 209 BC when Qin Er Shi

Qin Er Shi

Qin Er Shi , literally Second Emperor of Qin Dynasty, personal name Huhai, was Emperor of China of the Qin Dynasty in China from 210 BC until 207 BC....
deposed Lord Jiao of Wei(???).