Three-Character Classic st.47-50, attrib. Wang Yinglin

47.
Tang cut down the Xia.
The realm was then called Shang
For six full centuries—
Till King Zhòu was deposed.

汤伐夏
国号商
六百载
至纣亡

48.
Wu, the king of Zhōu,
Had executed Zhòu—
For eight full centuries,
His dynasty was longest.

周武王
始诛纣
八百载
最长久

49.
When Zhōu made eastward tracks,
The royal bonds declined:
Men flaunted shields and spears
And prized the peripatetics.

周辙东
王纲堕
逞干戈
尚游说

50.
It started Spring and Autumn
And ended Warring States:
Five Hegemons were strong,
The Seven States emerged.

始春秋
终战国
五霸强
七雄出

• 47: Zhòu (纣, “crupper”) was the derogatory posthumous name for the last Shang ruler, given after his overthrow by Zhōu (周) Dynasty forces. • 49: The Zhou Dynasty ruled for around 300 years from Fenghao, near modern Xi’an, in what’s called the Western Zhou period. After Fenghao was sacked in 771 BCE, the capital was moved eastward to Luoyang, starting the Eastern Zhou period. (“Tracks” is a literal translation—specifically wagon-tracks.) It was around this time that Zhou central authority slowly collapsed and its various feudal domains grew in autonomy. The “peripatetics” were itinerant political philosophers and lobbyists (such as Confucius) who went from state to state offering their services as consultant-statesmen to rulers. • 50: During the Spring and Autumn Period (771-c.475 BCE), rulers of the five most powerful domains (among initially hundreds) were acknowledged by the increasingly powerless Zhou rulers as Hegemons in nominal charge of keeping the peace. Domains still conquered others, though, becoming effectively independent states. Eventually the system fully broke down, and during the Warring States Period (c.475-221 BCE) the seven remaining states duked it out.

---L.