Sustainable development

Sustainable development is the organizing principle for meeting human development goals while simultaneously
sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services based upon which
the economy and society depend. The desired result is a state of society where living conditions and resources are
used to continue to meet human needs without undermining the integrity and stability of the natural system.
Sustainable development can be defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

While the modern concept of sustainable development is derived mostly from the 1987 Brundtland Report, it is also
rooted in earlier ideas about sustainable forest management and twentieth-century environmental concerns. As the
concept developed, it has shifted towards focus more on economic development, social development and
environmental protection for future generations. It has been suggested that "the term 'sustainability' should be
viewed as humanity's target goal of human-ecosystem equilibrium, while 'sustainable development' refers to the
holistic approach and temporal processes that lead us to the end point of sustainability".[1] Modern economies are
endeavoring to reconcile ambitious economic development and obligations of preserving natural resources and
ecosystems, as the two are usually seen as of conflicting nature. Instead of holding climate change commitments and
other sustainability measures as a remedy to economic development, turning and leveraging them into market
opportunities will do greater good.[unbalanced opinion?] The economic development brought by such organized
principles and practices in an economy is called Managed Sustainable Development (MSD).[attribution needed]

The concept of sustainable development has been, and still is, subject to criticism, including the question of what is
to be sustained in sustainable development. It has been argued that there is no such thing as a sustainable use of a
non-renewable resource, since any positive rate of exploitation will eventually lead to the exhaustion of earth's finite
stock;[2]:13 this perspective renders the Industrial Revolution as a whole unsustainable.[3]:20f [4]:61–67 [5]:22f It
has also been argued that the meaning of the concept has opportunistically been stretched from 'conservation
management' to 'economic development', and that the Brundtland Report promoted nothing but a business as usual
strategy for world development, with an ambiguous and insubstantial concept attached as a public relations slogan
(see below).[6]:48–54 [7]:94–99

History of sustainability

Main articles: Sustainability and History of sustainability

The Blue Marble photograph, taken from Apollo 17 on 7 December 1972, quickly became an icon of environmental
conservation.[8]:7

Sustainability can be defined as the practice of maintaining world processes of productivity indefinitely—natural or
human-made—by replacing resources used with resources of equal or greater value without degrading or
endangering natural biotic systems.[9] Sustainable development ties together concern for the carrying capacity of
natural systems with the social, political, and economic challenges faced by humanity. Sustainability Science is the
study of the concepts of sustainable development and environmental science. There is an additional focus on the
present generations' responsibility to regenerate, maintain and improve planetary resources for use by future
generations.[10]:3-8

Sustainable development has its roots in ideas about sustainable forest management which were developed in
Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries.[11][8]:6-16 In response to a growing awareness of the depletion of
timber resources in England, John Evelyn argued that "sowing and planting of trees had to be regarded as a national
duty of every landowner, in order to stop the destructive over-exploitation of natural resources" in his 1662 essay
Sylva. In 1713 Hans Carl von Carlowitz, a senior mining administrator in the service of Elector Frederick Augustus
I of Saxony published Sylvicultura economics, a 400-page work on forestry. Building upon the ideas of Evelyn and
French minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, von Carlowitz developed the concept of managing forests for sustained
yield.[11] His work influenced others, including Alexander von Humboldt and Georg Ludwig Hartig, eventually
leading to the development of a science of forestry. This, in turn, influenced people like Gifford Pinchot, first head
of the US Forest Service, whose approach to forest management was driven by the idea of wise use of resources, and
Aldo Leopold whose land ethic was influential in the development of the environmental movement in the
1960s.[11][8]

Following the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962, the developing environmental movement drew
attention to the relationship between economic growth and development and environmental degradation. Kenneth E.
Boulding in his influential 1966 essay The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth identified the need for the
economic system to fit itself to the ecological system with its limited pools of resources.[8] One of the first uses of
the term sustainable in the contemporary sense was by the Club of Rome in 1972 in its classic report on the Limits
to Growth, written by a group of scientists led by Dennis and Donella Meadows of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Describing the desirable "state of global equilibrium", the authors wrote: "We are searching for a
model output that represents a world system that is sustainable without sudden and uncontrolled collapse and
capable of satisfying the basic material requirements of all of its people."[10]

Following the Club of Rome report, an MIT research group prepared ten days of hearings on "Growth and Its
Implication for the Future" (Roundtable Press, 1973)[12] for the US Congress, the first hearings ever held on
sustainable development. William Flynn Martin, David Dodson Gray, and Elizabeth Gray prepared the hearings
under the Chairmanship of Congressman John Dingell.[citation needed]

In 1980 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature published a world conservation strategy that
included one of the first references to sustainable development as a global priority[13] and introduced the term
"sustainable development".[14]:4 Two years later, the United Nations World Charter for Nature raised five
principles of conservation by which human conduct affecting nature is to be guided and judged.[15] In 1987 the
United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development released the report Our Common Future,
commonly called the Brundtland Report. The report included what is now one of the most widely recognised
definitions of sustainable development.[16][17]

“ Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:

· The concept of 'needs', in particular, the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be
given; and

· The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to
meet present and future needs. ”

— World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (1987)

Since the Brundtland Report, the concept of sustainable development has developed beyond the initial
intergenerational framework to focus more on the goal of "socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable
economic growth".[14]:5 In 1992, the UN Conference on Environment and Development published the Earth
Charter, which outlines the building of a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. The action
plan Agenda 21 for sustainable development identified information, integration, and participation as key building
blocks to help countries achieve development that recognises these interdependent pillars. It emphasises that in
sustainable development everyone is a user and provider of information. It stresses the need to change from old
sector-centered ways of doing business to new approaches that involve cross-sectoral co-ordination and the
integration of environmental and social concerns into all development processes. Furthermore, Agenda 21
emphasises that broad public participation in decision making is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving
sustainable development.[18]

Under the principles of the United Nations Charter the Millennium Declaration identified principles and treaties on
sustainable development, including economic development, social development and environmental protection.
Broadly defined, sustainable development is a systems approach to growth and development and to manage natural,
produced, and social capital for the welfare of their own and future generations. The term sustainable development
as used by the United Nations incorporates both issues associated with land development and broader issues of
human development such as education, public health, and standard of living.[citation needed]

A 2013 study concluded that sustainability reporting should be reframed through the lens of four interconnected
domains: ecology, economics, politics and culture.[19]

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

Education for Sust Development (ESD) is defined as education that encourages changes in knowledge, skills, values
and attitudes to enable a more sustainable and equitable society. ESD aims to empower and equip current and future
generations to meet the needs using a balanced and integrated approach to the economic, social and environmental
dimensions of sustainable development.[20]

Concept

The concept of ESD was born from the need for education to address the growing and changing environmental
challenges facing the planet. In order to do this, education must change to provide the knowledge, skills, values and
attitudes that empower learners to contribute to sustainable development. At the same time, education must be
strengthened in all agendas, programmes, and activities that promote sustainable development. Sustainable
development must be integrated into education and education must be integrated into sustainable development. ESD
promotes the integration of these critical sustainability issues in local and global contexts into the curriculum to
prepare learners to understand and respond to the changing world. ESD aims to produce learning outcomes that
include core competencies such as critical and systematic thinking, collaborative decision-making, and taking
responsibility for the present and future generations. Since traditional single-directional delivery of knowledge is not
sufficient to inspire learners to take action as responsible citizens, ESD entails rethinking the learning environment,
physical and virtual.The learning environment itself must adapt and apply a whole-institution approach to embed the
philosophy of sustainable development. Building the capacity of educators and policy support at international,
regional, national and local levels helps drive changes in learning institutions. Empowered youth and local
communities interacting with education institutions become key actors in advancing sustainable development.[20]

UN Decade for Sustainable Development

The launch of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) started a global movement to
reorient education to address the challenges of sustainable development. Building on the achievement of the Decade,
stated in the Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on ESD, UNESCO endorsed the Global Action Programme on ESD (GAP)
in the 37th session of its General Conference. Acknowledged by UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/69/211
and launched at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in 2014, the GAP aims to scale-up actions and good
practices. UNESCO has a major role, along with its partners, in bringing about key achievements to ensure the
principles of ESD are promoted through formal, non-formal and informal education.[21]

International recognition of ESD as the key enabler for sustainable development is growing steadily. The role of
ESD was recognized in three major UN summits on sustainable development: the 1992 UN Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa; and the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development
(UNCSD) in Rio de Janeiro. Other key global agreements such as the Paris Agreement (Article 12) also recognize
the importance of ESD. Today, ESD is arguably at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and
its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015). The SDGs recognize that all countries must
stimulate action in the following key areas - people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership - in order to tackle the
global challenges that are crucial for the survival of humanity. ESD is explicitly mentioned in Target 4.7 of SDG4,
which aims to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development
and is understood as an important means to achieve all the other 16 SDGs (UNESCO, 2017).[20]

GLOBAL ECONOMY

Global economy is the exchange of goods and services integrated into a huge single global market. It is virtually a
world without borders, inhabited by marketing individuals and/or companies who have joined the geographical
world with the intent of conducting research and development and making sales.

International trade permits countries to specialize in the resources they have. Countries benefit by producing goods
and services they can provide most cheaply and by buying the goods and services other countries can provide most
cheaply. International trade makes it possible for more goods to be produced and for more human wants to be
satisfied than if every country tries by itself to produce everything it needs.

U.S. FOREIGN TRADE

The United States is one of the world's leading trading nations. The exports and imports of the United States thrive
so mightily that the profits of many large businesses, the jobs and incomes of many workers, and the incomes of
many farmers are dependent upon them.

In such a market, companies may source from the United States, conduct research and development in another
country, take orders in a third country, and sell wherever there exists demand, regardless of the customer's
nationality.

CAUSES OF INCREASING GLOBALIZATION

In the days of Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723–1790), if a merchant wanted to trade a lot of wool for a case of
port wine, the communication of that intent would require weeks. Sending a message to someone in India took
months. Such circumstances lent themselves to fragmented and individualized markets run by family members or
close friends. These industry managers were trusted to make decisions in the best interests of the company because
no rapid means of communicating existed. The opportunity to closely coordinate the act of several foreign
operations simply did not exist.

In the early twenty-first century, communication between most parts of the world is instantaneous. A manager in
Berlin, Germany, can phone or e-mail a manager in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss the latest news regarding the
orange crop. These new capabilities allow vast amounts of business data to be transferred globally almost
instantaneously at a reasonable cost. The world truly has become a smaller place in terms of communication.

Technological advances have increased the potential for the transportation of goods and individuals globally. This
reality encourages a global market approach to business as companies attempt to reach the largest number of
consumers at the lowest possible prices.
Another factor leading to a more globalized marketplace is the historical decrease in tariff and nontariff barriers. In
1930 the United States raised tariffs under the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act. Other countries followed suit, and
international trade slowed considerably. In 1947 several leading trading nations created the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade to serve as a forum for bringing down trade barriers. Between 1947 and 1994, trading countries
around the world participated in eight rounds of negotiating in an effort to reduce tariffs.

Another agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, was implemented by Canada, Mexico, and the
United States in 1994. This agreement reduced tariffs over a fifteen-year period, lifted many investment restrictions,
allowed for easier movement of white-collar workers, opened up government procurement over a ten-year period,
and created a mechanism for dispute resolution. As a result, retailers such as Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven have expanded
operations into Mexico and many Mexican and Canadian firms have been enjoying the benefits of participating in
the world's largest consumer market, the United States.

Multinational corporations search the globe for the lowest possible labor costs and weakest environmental
safeguards. It is not unusual for them to get help from undemocratic governments that compete in the global
marketplace by refusing to protect their citizens from environmental degradation and workplace abuse—ranging
from below-survival wages to physical attacks.

OTHER FACTORS AFFECTING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Closely related to the liberalization of trade, technological advantages, and the convergence of consumer preferences
are a set of competitive factors centered around the ideas of economies of scale (larger production volumes
generating lower per-unit production costs) and locational advantages.

Another factor affecting the global economy has been the shifting of production among various plants located
outside of the United States. This has occurred most significantly with the People's Republic of China. China is able
to produce a wide variety of goods and services at much lower costs than is possible in the United States.

Overall, the future for the global economy is positive. Many challenges lie ahead, but the overall opportunity is very
exciting and carries with it many unknown adventures in international trade in ways not yet known.

The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans of the world, considered as the international
exchange of goods and services that is expressed in monetary units of account.[1] In some contexts, the two terms
are distinct "international" or "global economy" being measured separately and distinguished from national
economies while the "world economy" is simply an aggregate of the separate countries' measurements. Beyond the
minimum standard concerning value in production, use and exchange the definitions, representations, models and
valuations of the world economy vary widely. It is inseparable from the geography and ecology of Earth.

It is common to limit questions of the world economy exclusively to human economic activity and the world
economy is typically judged in monetary terms, even in cases in which there is no efficient market to help valuate
certain goods or services, or in cases in which a lack of independent research or government cooperation makes
establishing figures difficult. Typical examples are illegal drugs and other black market goods, which by any
standard are a part of the world economy, but for which there is by definition no legal market of any kind.

However, even in cases in which there is a clear and efficient market to establish a monetary value, economists do
not typically use the current or official exchange rate to translate the monetary units of this market into a single unit
for the world economy since exchange rates typically do not closely reflect worldwide value, for example in cases
where the volume or price of transactions is closely regulated by the government.

Rather, market valuations in a local currency are typically translated to a single monetary unit using the idea of
purchasing power. This is the method used below, which is used for estimating worldwide economic activity in
terms of real United States dollars or euros. However, the world economy can be evaluated and expressed in many
more ways. It is unclear, for example, how many of the world's 7.62 billion people have most of their economic
activity reflected in these valuations.

According to Maddison, until the middle of 19th century, global output was dominated by China and India. Waves
of Industrial Revolution in Western Europe and Northern America shifted the shares to the Western Hemisphere. As
of 2017, the following 15 countries or regions have reached an economy of at least US$2 trillion by GDP in nominal
or PPP terms: Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Turkey,
the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

Economic globalization

Economic globalization is an Irreversible Trend Economic globalization refers to the increasing interdependence of
world economies as a result of the growing scale of cross-border trade of commodities and services, flow of
international capital and wide and rapid spread of technologies. It reflects the continuing expansion and mutual
integration of market frontiers, and is an irreversible trend for the economic development in the whole world at the
turn of the millennium. The rapid growing significance of information in all types of productive activities and
marketization are the two major driving forces for economic globalization. In other words, the fast globalization of
the world’s economies in recent years is largely based on the rapid development of science and technologies, has
resulted from the environment in which market economic system has been fast spreading throughout the world, and
has developed on the basis of increasing cross-border division of labor that has been penetrating down to the level of
production chains within enterprises of different countries. The advancement of science and technologies has greatly
reduced the cost of transportation and communication, making economic globalization possible. Today’s ocean
shipping cost is only a half of that in the year 1930, the current airfreight 1/6, and telecommunication cost 1%. The
price level of computers in1990 was only about 1/125 of that in 1960, and this price level in 1998 reduced again by
about 80%. This kind of ‘time and space compression effect’ of technological advancement greatly reduced the cost
of international trade and investment, thus making it possible to organize and coordinate global production. For
example, Ford’s Lyman car is designed in Germany, its gearing system produced in Korea, pump in USA, and
engine in Australia. It is exactly the technological advancement that has made this type of global production
possible. Moreover the development of the networking-based economy has given birth to a large group of shadow
enterprises, making the concept of national boundaries and distance for certain economic activities meaningless. 2
CDP Background Paper No. 1 If technological advancement and IT development were assumed as the technological
driving force for economic globalization, then the market-oriented reform carried out throughout the world should
be regarded as the institutional driving force for this trend. Under the framework of GATT and WTO, many
countries have gradually cut down their tariff and non-tariff barriers, more and more countries open up their current
accounts and capital accounts. All of these have greatly stimulated the development of trade and investment.
Moreover the transition of the former centralized planned economies to market economies has made it truly possible
to for the world’s economies to integrate into a whole. Multinational corporations (MNCs) have become the main
carriers of economic globalization. They are globally organizing production and allocating resources according to
the principle of profit maximization. And their global expansions are reshaping macroeconomic mechanisms of the
operation of the world economies. In 1996, there were altogether only more than 44,000 MNCs in the whole world,
which had 280,000 overseas subsidiaries and branch offices. In 1997, the volume of the trade of only the top 100
MNCs already came up to 1/3 of the world’s total and that between their parent companies and their subsidiaries
took up another 1/3. In the US$ 3,000 billion balance of foreign direct investment at the end of 1996, MNCs owned
over 80%. Furthermore, about 70% of international technological transfers were conducted among MNCs. This type
of cross-border economic activities within same enterprises has posed a challenge for the traditional international
trade and investment theories. Globalization of the financial sector has become the most rapidly developing and
most influential aspect of economic globalization. International finance came into being to serve the needs of
international trade and investment activities. However, along with the development of economic globalization, it has
become more and more independent. Compared with commodity and labor markets, the financial market is the only
one that has realized globalization in the true sense of ‘globalization’. Since 1970’s, cross-border flow of capital has
been rapidly expanding. In 1980, the total volume of cross-border transactions of stocks and bonds of major
developed countries was still less than 10% of their GDP. However, this figure had far surpassed 100% in 1995. The
value of the average daily transactions of foreign exchanges has grown from US$ 200 billion in the middle of
pushing forward upgrading of industrial structures.

FALSE THEORIES OF INSPIRATION

Natural Inspiration

According to this theory, every great poet is inspired, and every person who has brought a helpful message for
mankind is as much a prophet of God as were the Bible writers.

Objections: It eliminates the supernatural and reduces the Biblical writings to the level of the secular, making
them merely human productions to be criticized, and mutilated at will. Natural inspiration is no inspiration at all
(Exodus 4:10-12; II Samuel 23:1,2; Isaiah 8:11; 48:16; Jeremiah 1:5-10; Ezekiel 2:13; I Thessalonians 2:13;
Ephesians 3:5).

Degrees of Inspiration

The first and highest degree of inspiration covers those portions of Scripture which were revealed to the writers,
that is those not previously known. The second or lesser degree secure the writers against any serious error in
recording facts and doctrines already known to them. The third, or least, degree gives divine authority to the
remaining portions of the Bible, portions which, they say were originally composed with inspiration.

Objections: There are degrees of value, but not of inspiration.

Illumination, or Universal Christian Inspiration

This theory teaches that the writers of the Bible were inspired in the same sense in which Christians of all ages
have been inspired; that is the average Christian of today is as much inspired as was Moses or Paul or any Biblical
writer.

Objections: Offers no security against many and serious errors.

Inspired Concepts

God gave thoughts to the writers, and permitted them years afterwards in some cases to express these thoughts in
their own words as they might remember them.

Objections: Thus the inerrant God becomes the Author of an errant book. Moses, David and the others may
have gotten their "concept" correctly, but they were not very successful in putting it into words!

Partial Inspiration

This theory teaches that the Bible is inspired in spots; parts of it are inspired, and parts are not inspired. The
favorite expression of its advocates is, "The Bible contains the Word of God." These teachers do not agree as to
what portions are and what portions are not inspired.
 Objections: It leaves us in "awful and fatal uncertainty" as to what is and what is not the Word of God. The
Bible contains the Word of God; true, but much more, the Bible is the Word of God.

Occasional Inspiration

According to the theory, human reason and errors are so mixed with the divine that it would be difficult to know
what really is the Word of God.

Plenary, Verbal Inspiration

The word "plenary" means full, complete, entire, extending to every part. Plenary Inspiration teaches that every
part of the Bible is inspired, and equally inspired.

Verbal Inspiration

"Verbal" means pertaining to words. It is the doctrine of superintendence, or guidance; that is, God so guided in
the writing of the books of the Bible that the words are His words in the style of the writers.

Cheng Tang

Tang (Chinese: 湯; c. 1675 – 1646 BC) or Cheng Tang (成湯), recorded on oracle bones as Da Yi (大乙), was the
first king of the Shang dynasty in Chinese history. He overthrew Jie, the last ruler of the Xia dynasty.

Fu Hao (simplified Chinese: 妇好; traditional Chinese: 婦好; pinyin: Fù Hǎo; died c. 1200 BC) or Lady Hao,
posthumous temple name Mu Xin (母辛), was one of the many wives of King Wu Ding of the Shang dynasty and,
very unusually for China but not for that time, also served as a military general and high priestess.[1] Minimal
evidence detailing Fu Hao's life and military achievements survived the Shang Dynasty, as it preceded the invention
of paper and the records may have perished over the course of time.

The Tomb of Fu Hao was unearthed intact at Yinxu by archaeologist Zheng Zhenxiang,[2][3] with treasures such as
bronzes and jades. Inside the pit was evidence of a wooden chamber 5 metres (16 feet) long, 3.5 metres (11 feet)
wide and 1.3 metres (4.3 feet) high containing a lacquered wooden coffin that has since completely disintegrated.[4]
The tomb of Fu Hao provides the most insight into her life, her relationship with the royal family, and her military
role and achievements - as the objects she was buried with provide clues to her activities and interests.

Biography

What is known is that King Wu Ding cultivated the allegiance of neighbouring tribes by marrying one woman from
each of them. Fu Hao (who was believed as one of the king's 64 wives) entered the royal household through such a
marriage and took advantage of the semi-matriarchal slave society to rise through the ranks[5] to become one of the
King Wu Ding's three consorts. The other two were Fu Jing and Fu Zi. Fu Jing was the primary queen while Fu Hao
was the secondary queen. Fu Hao was also the mother of Prince Jie. Oracle bone inscriptions show concern for her
well-being at the time of the birth.

But the evidence of some ideas is vague, the activities of priestess and ritual matters of China only exits in Shang
dynasty. So the archaeology these days unveiled the history in a very stunning way. Since each Chinese Character
like “Fu”妇 often has variable meanings, even the oracle bones of Shang was deciphered, it is possible that some
women like Fu Hao were originally priestess instead of the King's wife who just happened to marry to the King
later. That is to say, the meaning of wife in some contexts may actually means a position as priestess.
Fu Hao owns her land. According to the oracle bones, she offered the King remarkable value of tributes for many
times. Although the Shang king can control over ritual matters, which was the most important political activity of
the day, oracle bone inscriptions show that Wu Ding repeatedly instructed Fu Hao to conduct the most special rituals
and to offer sacrifices to the ancestors. It was said by later scholar, The Shang Dynasty had their two most important
activities: ritual matters and battles. Lady Hao played extraordinary roles in both areas at that time.

Military role and achievements

Fu Hao is known to modern scholars mainly from inscriptions on Shang dynasty oracle bone artifacts unearthed at
Yinxu.[6] From these inscriptions and from the presence of weapons in her tomb, it can be determined that Fu Hao
was a general in charge of several military campaigns for the Shang Dynasty.[7]

In her military role, she was responsible for conquering enemies and neighbors of the Shang Dynasty.[8] The Tu-
Fang had fought against the Shang for generations until they were finally defeated by Fu Hao in a single decisive
battle. Further campaigns against the neighbouring Yi, Qiang and Ba followed; the latter is particularly remembered
for being the earliest recorded large-scale ambush in Chinese history.[9] With up to 13,000 soldiers and important
generals Zhi and Hou Gao serving under her, she was the most powerful Shang general of her time.[10]

This highly unusual status is confirmed by the many weapons, including great battle-axes, unearthed in her tomb.[4]

While Fu Hao's achievements were notable and unique, other women in this period were also active in military
roles; in a similar manner Fu Jing was also thought to have served in the military based on the presence of many
weapons and military equipment in her tomb. Oracle bones also revealed records of at least six hundreds of women
participating in the military during this era.[11]

Tomb

Main article: Tomb of Fu Hao

Remarkably, after her death Fu Hao was buried in a tomb of her land across the river from the main royal cemetery;
It seems unusual for people to believe it since the royal family were always buried together in China. She died at age
33, long before King Wu Ding's death, who constructed her tomb at his capital Yin.

Because of its location, Lady Hao's tomb is the only royal Shang tomb to have been left unnoticed and unlooted,
giving unique insights into her life and the burial practices of the time. The King later made many sacrifices there in
hopes of receiving her spiritual assistance in defeating the attacking Gong, who threatened to wipe out the Shang
completely. This shows his great favor towards Hao and after her death, he had her married to the three greatest
kings before him.[5] The tomb was unearthed by archaeologists in 1976 and is now open to the public.

The tomb itself was only a 5.6-by-4-meter (18 by 13 ft) pit that contains a smaller, 5-meter-long (16 ft), 3.5-meter-
wide (11 ft), and a 1.3-meter-high (4.3 ft) wooden structure within. The inside was packed with burial sacrifices and
wealth which, however, signified Lady Hao's prodigious position.

She was buried with a large and varied quantity of weapons signifying her important martial status, since only
warriors and generals were buried with such objects. Additionally, Fu Hao was entombed with hundreds of bronze,
jade, bone, and stone objects such as figurines, vessels, and mirrors many of them rare objects from around the
kingdom. These objects are some of the best preserved we have from that time period. The sacrificial bronze vessels
and tortoise shells inscribed prepared by Fu Hao discovered in her tomb are further evidence of her status as a high
priestess and oracle caster.[4] As was the custom during the Shang Dynasty, Fu Hao was buried with 16 human
sacrifices and six dogs.
The Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE) was the longest-lasting of ancient China’s dynasties. It followed the Shang
Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE) and it finished when the army of the state of Qin captured the city of Chengzhou in
256 BCE. The long history of the Zhou Dynasty is normally divided in two different periods: Western Zhou (1046-
771 BCE) and Eastern Zhou (770-256 BCE), so-called following the move of the Zhou capital eastwards where it
was safer from invasion.

The most influential minds in the Chinese intellectual tradition flourished under the Zhou, particularly towards the
last period of the Zhou Dynasty, considered a time of intellectual and artistic awakening. Many of the ideas
developed by figures like Laozi, Confucius, Mencius and Mozi, who all lived during the Eastern Zhou period, would
shape the character of Chinese civilization up to the present day.

The Origins of the Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou people were not invaders; they were Chinese-speaking people descendant from the Longshan Neolithic
culture. During the course of several centuries, the Zhou moved away from barbarian pressures, migrating towards
the westernmost agricultural basin of North China, the lower Wei River valley, present-day Shaanxi province. Here
they began to develop Shang-style agriculture, and they also built a city in an area named Plain of Zhou, which gave
its name to the state and the dynasty. The Shang ruling class considered the Zhou “semibarbarious country cousins”.
For many years the Zhou and the Shang coexisted alternating peace and war.

King Wen (1152-1056 BCE) of the Zhou is described as a living standard of benevolence & wisdom.

The first important historical figure of the Zhou is King Wen (1152-1056 BCE), who is described as a living
standard of benevolence and wisdom. He became king of Zhou in 1099 BCE during the last days of the Shang
Dynasty. King Wen is credited with conceiving the ambitious plan of undermining the authority of the Shang by
making alliances with neighbouring chiefs that gave the Zhou the military power to make conquest possible. Wen’s
growing power disturbed the Shang court to the point that they imprisoned him in the city of Youli. However, Wen’s
supporters ransomed him by giving the Shang a large number of gifts. The second son of King Wen was King Wu,
who built a new capital and named it Haojing. In 1046 BCE, Wu led an army of 50,000 troops against a Shang army
of 700,000 in a battle known as the Battle of Muye. The Shang people were so unhappy under the rule of the Shang
king that the Shang soldiers offered little resistance and many of them joined King Wu's side. The Shang king
retreated to his palace and committed suicide: He locked himself up in the building and set it on fire.

The Zhou justified the change of dynasty and their own authority by claiming that the dispossessed Shang had
forfeited the "Mandate of Heaven" by their misrule. It was customary in ancient China to identify the supreme
authority of rulers with a higher power. All subsequent dynasty changes in China would be justified with arguments
along these same lines.

King Wu did not exterminate the Shang entirely: He left the Shang heir as nominal ruler of the city of Youli, but he
assigned some of his own brothers to keep Youli under tight control. Wu returned to Haojing where he died still
relatively young and his son, King Cheng, became the new Zhou ruler while he was still a child.

The Zhou were not able to fully control the eastern plain that the Shang had controlled, and King Wu did not
elaborate a plan in order to accomplish such a goal. It was King Wu's brother, known as the Duke of Zhou, who
performed the necessary steps for laying the basis upon which the Zhou Dynasty would consolidate its power
throughout North China.

The Duke of Zhou conducted a number of expeditions eastward to bring the entire Yellow River plain under Zhou
control.
The Duke of Zhou was the chief and overseer of the newly conquered eastern plain and he was appointed as regent
over the young King Cheng, who was his own nephew. The counterpart of the Duke of Zhou was his own brother,
the Duke of Shao, chief overseer of the Zhou homeland in Shaanxi. As soon as the Duke of Zhou assumed his role
as regent over King Cheng, his brothers in the city of Youli joined the Shang heir in a rebellion to take over power
and restore the old Shang order: It seems that there was a widespread fear that the Duke of Zhou would usurp the
throne form his young nephew. The Duke of Zhou reacted quickly by organizing his military strength and crushing
the rebellion. He then conducted a number of expeditions eastward to bring the entire Yellow River plain under
Zhou control. During this process he destroyed many small states and created new administrative units in their place.
He also built a new capital in modern Luoyang, in the central Yellow River plains (modern Henan province) to serve
as an auxiliary Zhou capital to administer the eastern territories. After accomplishing all of this in a timeframe of
seven years, the powers that the Duke of Zhou had were extraordinary. This was not an obstacle for him to willingly
give up his powers after he persistently lectured his nephew on the duties of a responsible ruler: King Cheng finally
assumed his role and he ruled effectively until 1021 BCE.

Western Zhou (1046-771 BCE)

The Zhou Dynasty was never a wholly unified realm. The Zhou court extended its power over the eastern plain by
granting authority to members of the royal family and in some cases to favoured adherents, who established walled
forts supported by garrison troops among the original habitants of the east. In some cases, local chiefs were accepted
as Zhou supporters. Hence, there came into existence a network of city-states on the plain, from which military and
political control spread over the surrounding farming villages. Any local leader who challenged the Zhou order was
quickly punished by the army and the regional delegates were closely watched.

Map of Western Zhou

There are many resemblances between the Zhou system and some of the forms of feudalism in medieval Europe,
which is why the Zhou age is sometimes referred to as a feudal age. Even though the Zhou system was indeed
feudal, it had many differences from medieval Europe. The most important difference was that the rulling class was
mainly unified by kinship ties. Family relations were arranged by marriage where no kinship links existed. In this
way, the local lords were expected to accept the authority of the king as the head of a large family. For three
centuries after the Zhou conquered the Shang, Zhou rulers maintained order in North China and expanded their
territories.

As time went on, the kinship ties loosened and the local rulers became less identified with the Zhou king and more
with their allocated territories. This tendency was very strong in larger peripheral states. By the 9th century BCE,
regional leaders started to ignore their duties to the Zhou court and also fought among themselves. The declining
order in the realm encouraged non-Chinese on all sides to penetrate the borders. King Li (r. 877-841 BCE) led 14
armies against non-Chinese forces to the south and southeast with no positive results.

Finally, King Xuan (r. 827-782 BCE) fought many defensive wars against non-Chinese in the north during most of
his reign. In 771 BCE, his son, King You, was killed during a barbarian invasion in Haojing, the capital city, which
was overrun and sacked by a group of northeners. The royal heir and some of the court members who managed to
survive the disaster decided that Haojing was too vulnerable to assaults from the frontier, so they abandoned the city
and the eastern auxiliary capital at Luoyang became the new royal capital. This was the major turning point in the
Zhou Dynasty, which marks the end of the Western Zhou period.

Battles between regional leaders were relatively short &, for the nobles, restrained by a code of chivalry.

During the Western Zhou period, goods circulated mostly through tribute and gift rather than trade, cities were noble
fortresses, artisans were a hereditary caste of serfs attached to states or courts, and ministers and court members
were chosen based on birth rather than talent. Battles between regional leaders were relatively short and, for the
nobles, restrained by a code of chivalry.

Eastern Zhou (770-256 BCE)

After the barbarian invasion drove the Zhou rulers eastwards, the state of Qin became responsible for guarding the
western frontier and they gradually moved eastward and eventually occupied the original Zhou domains. Thus the
Qin became a close ally to the Zhou and they also had marriage relations with the Zhou ruling class. The city states
slowly emerged as powerful independent fiefs and the real Zhou power disintegrated. The states located on the
peripheries grew into major territorial powers, and its rulers normally had greater military and economic strength
than the king, who was now dependent on a small royal domain around Luoyang. By 700 BCE, the state of Qin in
the west, Jin in the north, Qi in the east and Chu in the south were the main centres of power in China. The royal
Zhou domain on the central Yellow River plain was powerless in comparison to the peripheric realms

The period from 772 to 476 BCE is known in Chinese history as the Spring and Autumn Period, so called after the
name of the preserved official chronicle of the small state of Lu, in which the events throughout China between
these dates are recorded. During this period, the military conflict gradually escalated. War after war, the different
states started to annex each other and form the roughly 100 states that were in China in about 770 BCE - there were
just 40 towards the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. This was a time of violence and social conflict: battles,
civil wars, assassinations of rulers, and intrigues among aristocratic families. Battles slowly shifted from being
relatively short and restrained by a code of chivalry to large-scale slaughters.

As a result of this growing conflict, rulers could no longer afford to hire their ministers on the basis of birth as talent
become far more important. Trade expanded, money and goods circulated mostly through commerce, and rich
merchants sometimes won high office. Thinkers competed for the ruler's patronage, moving from one court to the
other explaining their social, economic, military and political views in search for employment. The main intellectual
focus was practical political and social concerns while metaphysical speculations remained secondary. Arts and
philosophy flourished in China like never before: Thinkers belonging to the diverse Hundred Schools of thought
developed many different ideological traditions. This is the time when some of the most important Chinese schools
of thought such as Daoism, Confucianism and Legalism were born.

This situation led to the Warring States Period (476-221 BCE), where seven states were the chief contenders that
fought for the control and unification of China. For many centuries China lived immersed in a situation of war, a
disorder in which none of the competing states was strong enough to conquer all of the others, but many of them
were strong enough to break that order.

The fall of the Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou Dynasty came to an end during the Warring States period in 256 BCE, when the army of the state of Qin
captured the city of Chengzhou and the last Zhou ruler, King Nan, was killed. The real power of Zhou was so small,
that the end of the dynasty was hardly noted. The Zhou state was thus absorbed by the state of Qin. The supremacy
of the states of Qin, Qi and Chu was so great that it seemed for a time that China would be divided in three, one
section for each state. However, chaos and war prevailed and the battles continued until eventually the state of Qin
conquered the other states and unified China once more in 221 BCE, the beginning of the Qin Dynasty (221-206
BCE).