Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Zhou |
ZhouNoun1. The imperial dynasty of China from 1122 to 221 BC; notable for the rise of Confucianism and Taoism. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
"Zhou" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "to assist". |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Zhou refers to
- Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC - 256 BC)
- Zhou Dynasty (690 AD - 705 AD)
Zhou is the transliteration of a common Chinese family name 周. It could also be spelt as Chau, Chou or Chow. Zhou can be a rare Chinese family name 洲.
Prominent people with family name 周
- Chow Yun-Fat, actor
- Zhou Enlai, politician
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Zhou."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Empress Wu Zetian of China had found another Zhou Dynasty in 690 AD, which lasted during her reign. However, it is traditionally considered an interruption of the Tang Dynasty.
Zhou Dynasty (周朝 late 10th century BC to late 9th century - 256 BC) (Wade-Giles Chou Dynasty) followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. In the Chinese historical tradition, the rulers of the Zhou displaced the Shang and legitimized their rule by invoking the mandate of heaven. The Zhou dynasty was founded by the Ji family and had its capital at Hao, near the city of Xi'an, or Chang'an, as it was known in its heyday in the imperial period. Sharing the language and culture of the Shang, the early Zhou rulers, through conquest and colonization, gradually sinicized, that is, extended Shang culture through much of China Proper north of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River).
The term feudal has often been applied to the Zhou period because the Zhou's early decentralized rule invites comparison with medieval rule in Europe. At most, however, the early Zhou system was proto-feudal, being a more sophisticated version of earlier tribal organization, in which effective control depended more on familial ties than on feudal legal bonds. Whatever feudal elements there may have been decreased as time went on. The Zhou amalgam of city-states became progressively centralized and established increasingly impersonal political and economic institutions. These developments, which probably occurred in the latter Zhou period, were manifested in greater central control over local governments and a more routinized agrarian taxation.
Initially the Ji family was able to control the country firmly. In 771 BC, after King You had replaced his queen with a concubine Baosi, he was then sacked by the joint force of the queen's father, who was the powerful Marquess of Shen, and the barbarians. The queen's son Ji Yijiu was proclaimed the new king by the nobles from the states of Zheng, Lu, Qin and the Marquess of Shen. The capital was moved eastward in 722 BC to Luoyang in present-day Henan Province.
Because of this shift, historians divide the Zhou era into Western Zhou (late 10th century BC to late 9th century-771 BC) and Eastern Zhou (770-221 BC). The beginning year of Western Zhou has been disputed - 1122 BC, 1027 BC and other years within the hundred years from late 12th century BC to late 11th century BC have been proposed. Chinese historiographers take 841 BC as the first year of consecutive annual dating of the history of China, based on the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. Eastern Zhou divides into two subperiods. The first, from 722 to 481 BC, is called the Spring and Autumn Period, after a famous historical chronicle of the time; the second is known as the Warring States Period (403 BC-221 BC).
With the royal line broken, the power of the Zhou court gradually diminished; the fragmentation of the kingdom accelerated. From Ping Wang onwards, the Zhou kings ruled only symbolicly, with true power being held in the hands of powerful nobles. Towards the end of Zhou Dynasty, the nobles did not bother to obey the Ji family, even symbolically and declared themselves to be kings. They wanted to be the king of the kings. Finally, the dynasty was obliberated by Qin Shi Huangdi's reunification of China in 221 BC.
Sovereigns of Zhou dynasty 1122 BC-256 BC
Posthumous names Chinese names Period of Reigns
Chinese Convention: "Zhou" + posthumous name + "wang"
Note: all dates are approximate until 841 BC when the first accurate dating of Chinese history began.
Xi Zhou dynasty(Western Zhou dynasty,西周)1122 BC-771 BC
Wu (武 wu3) Ji Fa (姬發 ji1 fa1) 1122 BC-1115 BC
Cheng (成 cheng2) Ji Song (姬誦 ji1 song4) 1115 BC-1078 BC
Kang (康 kang1) Ji Zhao (姬釗 ji1 zhao1) 1078 BC-1052 BC
Zhao (昭 zhao1) Ji Xia (姬瑕 ji1 xia2) 1052 BC-1001 BC
Mo (穆 mo4) Ji Man (姬滿 ji1 man3) 1001 BC-946 BC
Gong (共 gong1) Ji Yihu (姬繄扈 ji1 yi1 hu4) 946 BC-934 BC
Yi (懿 yi4) Ji Jian (姬囏 ji1 jian1) 934 BC-909 BC
Xiao (孝 xiao4) Ji Pifang (姬辟方 ji1 pi4 fang1) 909 BC-894 BC
Yi (夷 yi2) Ji Xie (姬燮 ji1 xie4) 894 BC-878 BC
Li (厲 li4) Ji Hu (姬胡 ji1 hu2) 878 BC-841 BC
gonghe (共和) 841 BC-827 BC
Xuan (宣 xuan1) Ji Jing (姬靜 ji1 jing4) 827 BC-781 BC
You (幽 you1) Ji Gongsheng (姬宮湦 ji1 gong1 sheng1) 781 BC-771 BC
Dong Zhou dynasty(Eastern Zhou dynasty, 东周) 770 BC-256 BC'''
Ping (平 ping2) Ji Yijiu (姬宜臼 ji1 yi2 jiu4) 770 BC-720 BC
Huan (桓 huan2) Ji Lin (姬林 ji1 lin2) 719 BC-697 BC
春秋時代 (chun1 qiu1 shi2 dai4) Spring and Autumn Period 722 BC-481 BC
Zhuang (莊 zhuang1) Ji Tuo (姬佗 ji1 tuo2) 696 BC-682 BC
Li (釐 li2) Ji Huqi (姬胡齊 ji1 hu2 qi2) 681 BC-677 BC
Hui (惠 hui4) Ji Lang (姬閬 ji1 lang4) 676 BC-652 BC
Xiang (襄 xiang1) Ji Zheng (姬鄭 ji1 zheng) 651 BC-619 BC
Qing (頃 qing3) Ji Renchen (姬壬臣 ji1 ren2 chen2) 618 BC-613 BC
Kuang (匡 kuang1) Ji Ban (姬班 ji1 ban1) 612 BC-607 BC
Ding (定 ding4) Ji Yu (姬瑜 ji1 yu2) 606 BC-586 BC
Jian (簡 jian3) Ji Yi (姬夷 ji1 yi2) 585 BC-572 BC
Ling (靈 ling2) Ji Xiexin (姬泄心 ji1 xie4 xin1) 572 BC or 571 BC-545 BC
Jing (景 jing3) Ji Gui (姬貴 ji1 gui4) 544 B.C-520 B.C
Dao (悼 dao4) Ji Meng (姬猛 ji1 meng3) 520 BC
Jing (敬 jing4) Ji Gai (姬丐 ji1 gai4) 519 BC-476 BC
Yuan (元 yuan2) Ji Ren (姬仁 ji1 ren2) 475 BC-469 BC
Zhen Ding (貞定 zhen1 ding4) Ji Jie (姬介 ji1 jie4) 468 BC-441 BC
Ai (哀 ai1) Ji Quji (姬去疾 ji1 qu4 ji2) 441 BC
Si (思 si1) Ji Shu (姬叔 ji1 shu2) 441 BC
Kao (考 kao3) Ji Wei (姬嵬 ji1 wei2) 440 BC-426 BC
Wei Lie (威烈 wei1 lie4) Ji Wu (姬午 ji1 wu3) 425 BC-402 BC
戰國時代(zhan4 guo2 shi2 dai4) Period of the Warring States 403 BC-221 BC
An (安 an1) Ji Jiao (姬驕 ji1 jiao1) 401 BC-376 BC
Lie (烈 lie4) Ji Xi (姬喜 ji1 xi3) 375 BC-369 BC
Xian (顯 xian3) Ji Bian (姬扁 ji1 bian3) 368 BC-321 BC
Shen Jing (慎靚 shen4 jing4) Ji Ding (姬定 ji1 ding4) 320 BC-315 BC
Nan (赧 nan3) or Yin (隱 yin3) Ji Yan (姬延 ji1 yan2) 314 BC-256 BC
Hui (惠 hui4) ? 255 BC-249 BC
Note: nobles of the Ji family proclaimed King Hui of Eastern Zhou (Dong Zhou Hui Wang) as the successor to the dynasty after Luoyang fell to Qin. However the resistance did not last long when Qin army advanced southwards. So King Nan of Zhou (Zhou Nan Wang) is conventionally considered as the last emperor of Zhou. See also
- History of China
- Chinese historiography
- Chinese sovereign
- Huns
- Period of the Warring States
- Spring and Autumn Period
- Tribes in Chinese history
External link
Preceded by:
Shang DynastyTimeline of Chinese history Succeeded by:
Qin DynastySource: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Zhou Dynasty."
Synonyms: ZhouSynonyms: Chou (n), Chou dynasty (n), Chow (n), Chow dynasty (n), Zhou dynasty (n). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Tai quan zhen jiu zhou (1973) Chao Zhou nu han (1973) Feng yu gui zhou (1959) Huang Fei-hong long zhou duo jin (1956) Yue er wan wan zhao jiu zhou (1952) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
 |
| "Su zhou garden" by Henry Yao Commentary: "Garden and pond at dusk." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Civil Liberties | China | Prominent activists including Zhou Guoqiang, Wang Donghai, Chen Longde, and Leng Wanbao signed the letter. (references) |
Economic History | China | In January 1976, Premier Zhou Enlai, a popular political figure, died of cancer. (references) |
China | Establishment of a professional military force equipped with modern weapons and doctrine was the last of the "Four Modernizations" announced by Zhou Enlai and supported by Deng Xiaoping. (references) | |
Human Rights | China | Dissident Zhou Yongjun was released in March. (references) |
Political Economy | China | Others, such as CDP activist Zhou Yongjun, who was released in March, were released after completing their sentences. (references) |
Worker Rights | China | The most prominent set of cases has been brought by a lawyer based in Shenzhen Province, Zhou Litai, on behalf of workers injured on the job. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Zhou" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 84.62% of the time. "Zhou" is used about 13 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 84.62% | 11 | 106,044 |
| Noun (singular) | 15.38% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 13 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "Zhou" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Zhou | Last name | 1,000 | 10,268 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expression using "Zhou": Zhou dynasty. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
vic zhou | 296 | tai zhou | 9 |
zhou | 55 | jay lyrics zhou | 8 |
china zhou | 43 | hui zhou | 8 |
picture vic zhou | 40 | ken zhou | 8 |
xun zhou | 40 | jay jie lun zhou | 7 |
zhou dynasty | 35 | zhou zhou | 7 |
min vic yu zhou | 25 | vicky zhou | 6 |
jay zhou | 23 | zhou jie | 6 |
zhou enlai | 22 | zhou ling | 6 |
f4 vic zhou | 21 | photo vic zhou | 5 |
poor prince vic zhou | 20 | biography vic zhou | 5 |
garden meteor vic zhou | 16 | by poor prince vic zhou | 5 |
zhengyi zhou | 15 | train yus zhou | 5 |
jie lun zhou | 15 | xuan zhou | 5 |
zhou yu | 14 | guang zhou | 5 |
min yu zhou | 14 | jie lun lyrics zhou | 4 |
chinese premier zhou | 14 | qing zhou | 4 |
ming vic yu zhou | 13 | pic vic zhou | 4 |
vic wallpaper zhou | 12 | make vic wish zhou | 4 |
chuan xiong zhou | 11 | shen zhou | 4 |
vic yuming zhou | 4 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "Zhou"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 周. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ouzhay.(various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "h-o-u-z" | |
-2 letters: ho, oh, uh. | |
| Words containing the letters "h-o-u-z" | |
+4 letters: mezuzoth, rhizopus. | |
+5 letters: authorize, gazehound, hazardous, krummholz, rhizobium, zucchetto. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Digital Art 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
