Tai Zhou, a Zhou king, organized a long-term plan to take over the Shang. In a first move, the Zhou people followed the Wei river eastward and resettled closer to the Shang. Secondly, they sustained greater communication with other subordinated people of the Shang Empire, particularly on the west side of the Shang territory so as to create the alliances necessary to overthrow the Shang kings. Finally, around the year 1050 BC, the Zhou initiated a war against the Shang. According to Dr. Hammond, the war seems to have been initiated by Wen Zhou (as Tai Zhou had died by then), referred to as a king in historical records, but his son Wu was the one who took the throne from the Shang.<ref name=":022">{{Citation|author=Dr. Ken Hammond|year=2004|title=From Yao to Mao: 5000 years of Chinese history|chapter=Lecture 3: The Zhou Conquest|publisher=The Teaching Company}}</ref>While the exact date of this war has been lost, paleo-astronomers have narrowed down the range of possible dates to within a few years of 1045 BCE based on the study of celestial events described at that time.<ref name=":022" />
On that date, the Zhou people and their allies marched to the capital of the Shang (modern day Anyang), and set themselves up on the west side of a river. On the morning of the battle, the young king Wu gave a speech calling for the overthrow of the Shang and then led his armies forward into the city. A number of ancient documents that have survived to this day describe the battle that took place on that day; the Classic of Documents contains a purported transcript of the speech king Wu gave on that day as well as a document describing the battle. It is said that on this day, blood flowed so heavily in the streets that wood was seen floating in streams of it.<ref name=":022" />
The battle concluded with the killing of the Shang king; the Shang state was thus seized by the Zhou and king Wu crowned.<ref name=":022" />
King Wu died only three years into his rule as the Zhou king. His son, Cheng, was proclaimed the new king but was too young to rule, and so a regency was organized. Wu's younger brother, known as Ji Dan, was the principal regent for the young king.<ref>{{Citation|author=R. Eno|year=2010|title=Indiana University, History G380 – class text readings – Spring 2010 – R. Eno|title-url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iuswrrest/api/core/bitstreams/3357825b-f345-4b0a-a796-23c021efcde1/content|publisher=Indiana University}}</ref> He was seen as a very sage and moral character, as he could have easily usurped the throne from the young king, but instead was happy to serve as an advisor.<ref name=":023">{{Citation|author=Dr. Ken Hammond|year=2004|title=From Yao to Mao: 5000 years of Chinese history|chapter=Lecture 3: The Zhou Conquest|publisher=The Teaching Company}}</ref>The duke of Zhou thus became a very important figure in Chinese history, even serving as a model for Confucius some 500 years later.<ref name=":023" />
Although the Shang had been defeated, the Zhou did not exterminate them. The Shang were moved away from the capital of Anyang to the south and east and given a territory of their own, made into subordinates of the Zhou. They were allowed to retain their customs, including the worship of their royal family's ancestors. To this day, certain families in southeastern Anhui province trace their family all the way back to the Shang.<ref name=":024">{{Citation|author=Dr. Ken Hammond|year=2004|title=From Yao to Mao: 5000 years of Chinese history|chapter=Lecture 3: The Zhou Conquest|publisher=The Teaching Company}}</ref>At the same time, the Zhou moved the capital (and thus center) of their empire from Anyang back to their own ancestral homelands in the valley of the Wei river. They built a new capital at Chang'an (modern-day city of Xian), which served as a capital for a number of later dynasties.<ref name=":025">{{Citation|author=Dr. Ken Hammond|year=2004|title=From Yao to Mao: 5000 years of Chinese history|chapter=Lecture 3: The Zhou Conquest|publisher=The Teaching Company}}</ref>The Zhou also established a pattern for the design of capital cities which was later picked up by subsequent dynasties. Their city was designed to be the physical representation of a well-ordered world, drawing back to the Mandate of Heaven. The city of Chang'an was laid out as a square surrounded by a wall, and oriented on a north-south axis with a compound in the northern part that formed the residence of the ruler. In the southern part of the city were residential areas for the common people, markets, and other centers of activity for daily life. Surrounding the city in the four cardinal directions (north, west, south, east) were ritual complexes -- altars and other temples for the performing of sacrifices and other ceremonies.<ref name=":025" />
Creation of the Mandate of Heaven
To understand the [[Mandate of Heaven]], it is important to understand what Heaven is in China. According to [[Ken Hammond]], the Chinese people in earlier history (including the Zhou) worshiped what we translate as Heaven (''tian''). Tian should not be thought of as the Christian Heaven, but rather sort of a natural operating system, the overarching mechanism that governs the functioning of everything in the universe. Tian should be understood as an all-encompassing organic system, and not as a divinity or god. However, it does have the capacity for action. One such capacity is the bestowing or withdrawing of the Mandate of Heaven.<ref name=":026">{{Citation|author=Dr. Ken Hammond|year=2004|title=From Yao to Mao: 5000 years of Chinese history|chapter=Lecture 3: The Zhou Conquest|publisher=The Teaching Company}}</ref>The Zhou were the ones who developed this doctrine to justify their conquest of the Shang, arguing that there was a "proper" way for society to be organized, which was focalised around a good ruler. since the Shang were unable to protect their tributary people from raids (and thus did not maintain the livelihood and prosperity of the people), they were unfit to rule and Heaven (tian) had withdrawn the Mandate from the Shang and given it to the Zhou, as the Zhou were able (or allowed) to defeat the Shang and seize power from them.<ref name=":026" />
The Mandate of Heaven would become central to all political transitions from one dynasty (or form of government) to another, even enduring to this day in the People's Republic. The Mandate formed instant justification for an overthrow of a dynasty: if one succeeded in seizing the state, then they had clearly received the Mandate of Heaven. If they failed, then they clearly had not received the Mandate and thus the old dynasty would keep ruling.<ref name=":026" />
For the first time, the state was not the property of a ruling family but instead, drawing on earlier mythical accounts of kings Yao and Shun, considered to be something that involved the moral qualities of the rulers. The Mandate is bestowed and removed by forces outside of human control, and as such the state belongs to the dynasty that was picked by Heaven to rule.<ref name=":026" />
