Yue, (Chinese) state of

China’s so-called “Spring and Autumn Period” ends in 476 BCE (or, by some authorities, in 403 BCE).

After the king of Wú died during an invasion of Yuè (496 BCE), his son, King Fuchāi of Wú, had nearly destroyed the Yuè state, defeated Qí, and threatened Jìn.

In 482 BCE, King Fuchāi holds an interstate conference to solidify his power base, but Yuè captures the Wú capital.

Fuchāi rushes back but is besieged by the Yue forces.

The Late Zhou period is increasingly characterized by destruction, as warfare among the semiautonomous Zhou vassals becomes endemic from the fifth century BCE.

China’s so-called “Spring and Autumn Period” ends and the Warring States period begins as the belligerent vassals form alliances with one another to increase their power and gain more land.

This is nevertheless a time of great intellectual achievement, China's "Golden Age".

The endemic warfare results in increased centralization and administrative efficiency within each state.

Sun Tzu (also referred to as "Sunzi" and "Sun Wu"), a high ranking military general and strategist during the late Spring and Autumn period, writes knowingly of spies in his Treatise on the Art of War, the first intelligence manual.

Some scholars believe that the Art of War was not completed until the subsequent Warring States period).

Composed of thirteen chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it is said to be the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time, and is still read for its military insights.

The Art of War is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy in the world.

It has been the most famous and influential of China's Seven Military Classics.

Sun Tzu emphasized the importance of positioning in military strategy, and that the decision to position an army must be based on both objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective beliefs of other, competitive actors in that environment.

He thought that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through an established list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions.

Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a changing environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.

Chinese cast iron appears, but it is of poor quality.

The high phosphorus content of iron from their ore enables the Chinese to melt it––a process unduplicated by their western Eurasian contemporaries––but the castings are unsatisfactorily brittle.

The Chinese are aware of the way in which the cycle of fifths produces the chromatic scale of twelve halftones, but use the chromatic scale only to transpose the customary pentatonic scales.

Mozi (Mo Tzu, or Micius) who preaches pacifism and universal love in China, establishes a dialectical method of argument.

Chinese philosopher Lao-tze, the probable author of the “Tao-te Ching” anthology, formulates Taoism as a religion.

The oldest surviving Chinese literature dates from this age, as does the emergence of three important schools of philosophy: Confucianism, Taoism (Daoism), and Legalism.

Chinese education, largely conducted in private homes, is shaped for the most part by four schools of thought: Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism, and Taoism.

The practical use of natural gas begins during the Warring States period in China, where people use bamboo pipes to collect it from natural seeps and convey it to gas-fired evaporators used in boiling ocean water for the salt.

China’s Warring States Period, in contrast to the Spring and Autumn Period, is a period when regional warlords annex smaller states around them and consolidate their rule.

The process had begun in the Spring and Autumn Period, and by the third century BCE, seven major states will have risen to prominence.

These Seven Warring States are the Qi, the Chu, the Yan, the Han, the Zhao, the Wei, and the Qin.

Another sign of this shift in power is a change in title: warlords still consider themselves dukes of the Zhou dynasty king; but the warlords now begin to call themselves kings, meaning they are equal to the Zhou king.

The Warring States Period in Chinese history covers the period from some time in the early fifth century BCE to the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE.

It is nominally considered to be the second part of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, following the Spring and Autumn Period, although the Zhou dynasty itself would end in 256 BCE, 35 years earlier than the end of the Warring States period.

As with the Spring and Autumn Period, the king of Zhou acts merely as a figurehead.

The name Warring States Period is derived from the Record of the Warring States, a work historically compiled early in the Han Dynasty.

While the date for the beginning of the Warring States Period is somewhat in dispute, it is frequently cited as 475 BCE.

The Warring States Period, in contrast to the Spring and Autumn Period, will be a period when regional warlords annex smaller states around them and consolidate their rule.

Another sign of this shift in power is a change in title: warlords who had still considered themselves dukes of the Zhou dynasty king now begin to call themselves kings, meaning they are equal to the Zhou king.

The state of Wu straddles the mouth of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) east of the State of Chu.

Considered a semi-barbarian state by ancient Chinese historians, its capital is Suzhou.

The State of Jin had aided Wu's rise to power as a useful ally against the State of Chu.

In 584 BCE, Wu had rebelled against the State of Chu; the action had occurred after being persuaded by Wuchen, a minister of the State of Jin who had defected from Chu.

Wu, which has since been a constant threat to the state of Chu on its southeastern flank, has curried relationships with Chu's vassals in the Yangtze river region to weaken support for Chu.

In 506 BCE, Wu had launched a surprise attack and occupied the capital of Chu.

Afterwards, Wu was briefly the most powerful nation, and turned to other campaigns, defeating the State of Qi in 484 BCE.

Ironically, Wu is now threatened by an upstart state to its south, the State of Yue; the State of Chu had aided Yue's rise to power as a counter to Wu.

Although Wu had won a major victory against Yue in 494 BCE, it had failed to completely subjugate Yue, helped in part by Yue's bribing of an important Wu minister.

While Wu was engaged in a military campaign in the north, Yue had launched a surprise attack on Wu in 482 BCE and conquered the capital, Huangchi.

Eventually, the State of Yue conquers and annexes Wu in 473 BCE; King Fuchai, the last king of Wu, commits suicide in his palace.