Lesson 7 Social Changes During the Warring States Period

The warring states period seven male

After nearly 300 years of conflict in the Spring and Autumn Period, most of the small vassal states were annexed, and several large vassal states dominated the political situation. The various systems that maintained the rule of the Zhou royal family had completely collapsed.

In the early years of the Warring States Period, the state of Jin was divided among the three states of Han, Zhao and Wei, and the state of Qi was replaced by the state of Tian.

At that time, there were more than a dozen states, among which qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei and Qin were relatively strong, known as the "seven warring States" in history.

During the Warring States Period, powerful vassals no longer held the banner of "respecting the king and repelling the barbarians", but acted independently, expanded their armies and tried to expand their territories.

The seven nations had powerful armies and fought each other.

The scale of the war at that time was large, with a large number of troops involved, a wide area of engagement and a long duration.

Some famous battles in Chinese history, such as the Battle of Guiling, the Battle of Maling and the Battle of Changping, all took place during this period.

The annexation wars between the seven continued and became more and more intense.

After the middle period of the Warring States period, the power of various vassal states rose one after another. The states of Wei, Qi, Zhao and Qin rose one after another, while the other states gradually declined.

In particular, qin, located in the west, gradually became the most powerful vassal state, posing a threat to the six eastern states.

Shang Yang reform

During the Warring States Period, the use of iron tools and cattle farming was further popularized, the level of social productivity was constantly improved, and the power of the new landlord class was strengthened.

In order to adapt to the changes of social politics and economy, the rulers of various vassal states carried out reform and established a new political and economic order in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army and win the annexation war.

Shang Yang of The State of Qin was the most effective one.

In 356 BC, Lord Xiao appointed Shang Yang to preside over the reform.

Shang Yang carried out a series of reform measures, which greatly enhanced the national strength of Qin, improved the combat effectiveness of the army, and became the most powerful vassal state, which laid the foundation for qin to unify the whole country.

As a result of political reform, major changes have taken place in politics, economy, military affairs and the rule of law, accelerating the pace of social progress.

Dujiangyan for generations to come

In the late Warring States period, qin paid attention to water conservancy in the process of political reform and economic development.

In 256 BC, Under the direction of Li Bing, governor of Shu Prefecture, Dujiangyan was built on the Minjiang River near Chengdu.

After careful design, Li Bing and others chose the junction of mountains and plains, and made use of the terrain and river channels to build this large-scale water conservancy project.

Dujiangyan is composed of canal head and irrigation network.

The canal head project is built in the Minjiang River, which is divided into fish mouth, Treasure bottle mouth and sand flying weir.

The fish mouth is a dike built in the middle of the river. It looks like a big fish lying in the river and divides the Minjiang River into inner and outer rivers.

The inner river is used for irrigation and the outer river for flood discharge.

The Bottle Mouth is a man-made outlet dug out of a mountain in the lower reaches of the Neijiang River, which diverts water into a network of channels to irrigate farmland.

The sand-flying weir is a 120-meter-long rolling dam between the water diversion dam and the mouth of the vase, which is used to release water during the flood season and reduce sediment deposition.

Dujiangyan is a comprehensive water control hub, which integrates the functions of dike, water distribution, flood discharge, sand discharge and current control into a system, exerting the functions of flood control, irrigation and water transportation.

After its completion, chengdu plain became fertile and was called "The Land of Abundance".

Dujiangyan has played a great role for more than two thousand years, which is unique in the history of water resources in the world and fully reflects the wisdom of the Chinese people.（771words）