The reason for the splendor of the Spring and Autumn Warring States civilization
The high splendor of Chinese civilization during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was highly competitive in the international pattern. In such a large area as China today, there are dozens or hundreds of vassal states, and almost all of these vassal states have complete autonomy rights in diplomatic, military, political, economic, and other fields, which brings about an all-round international competition pattern. These dozens or hundreds of vassal states are mainly distributed in North China, an area of about 1 million square kilometers, and the relative distance between the various vassal states is not large, which facilitates the exchanges between the vassal states and also intensifies the degree of competition among the vassal states.
The advantage of the competitive pattern brought about by the numerous vassal states is that it can prompt the princes of various countries to get greater external pressure and avoid these princes from being fearless and excessive. These external pressures could also give the princes the impetus to reform. The state of the vassal states can also achieve political or economic adaptation to local conditions, so that each vassal state can obtain the best system according to local conditions.
The political system of the time, as well as the high degree of freedom of speech or thought brought about by the pressures of international competition, greatly contributed to the arrival of a glorious civilization. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were a period of high freedom of speech and highly active thought, and the exchange of personnel and information between the vassal states was also relatively convenient, which was conducive to the explosion of knowledge.
The progress of productive forces has brought about a continuous increase in the number of people and a continuous increase in population density, which is of great significance for accelerating the development of civilization. At that time, iron tools began to be widely used, and cattle farming was gradually popularized, which was an important sign of the progress of productivity. A large amount of wasteland is gradually being reclaimed, which is an indication of population growth and population density. Other things being equal, the rate of development of a society is proportional to the size of the population. Other things being equal, the greater the population density, the greater the rate of social development.
In the early Spring and Autumn period, the population of Huaxia was around 10 million, and by the late Warring States period, the population of Huaxia had remained around 25 million, and the population number or population density was increasing. The increase in population alone can increase the development rate of civilization by more than two times, and the increase in population density can also moderately increase the development rate of civilization. At that time, each vassal state was actively encouraging its citizens to have children, and people were national strength, and the more people, the greater the national strength.
I heard from netizens that the knowledge popularization rate was relatively high at that time, and there were not only privately run schools, but also more government-run schools. The main purpose of government-run schools is to enable citizens to learn military technology and improve the combat effectiveness of the army, which objectively popularizes the level of literacy and is conducive to the dissemination of knowledge. During the Warring States period, international competition was so fierce that the princes tried to find ways to improve the quality of their citizens, and government-run schools became a competitive strategy.
During the Warring States Period, adult Chinese men had a high military literacy, serving the people in peacetime, serving as soldiers in wartime, busy with agriculture when busy, and training soldiers in leisure time (not to practice martial arts, but to practice military skills such as formation and archery), and could quickly change roles, which brought the army's superb combat effectiveness.
Long-term sustained and stable social development. Since the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the core area of Chinese civilization has been in a state of stable development. Although there were many wars during this period, these wars were all under the control of the vassal states, and the society was not in a state of war, and there was no social regression similar to the later wars. Giving objective conditions for the sustainable development of civilization is of great significance to the accumulation of civilization, and the great Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period meet this condition. For example, in the core area of China, since the Zhou Dynasty, until the end of the Warring States Period, there has been no desolate scene without a rooster crying for thousands of miles. In the subsequent history of the Han nationality, so far, there has not been a historical stage of similar length without the great regression of civilization.
The splendor of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period also benefited from the relatively warm and humid climate at that time. It was a small interglacial period, relatively warm, which brought more precipitation, which is very beneficial to agricultural production in North China, which can increase the suitability of the climate for agricultural production, increase yields, and then increase population density or total population, and promote the speed of social development or the degree of social prosperity.
The forced relocation of the capital of the Zhou Dynasty profoundly affected the development of the situation in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which not only greatly enhanced the independence of the vassal states, but also made the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty closer to the core area of China at that time, which was conducive to the spread of official knowledge of the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the core area of China and the cultural development of the early Eastern Zhou Dynasty.