WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Zhou created the Mandate of Heaven: the idea that there could be only one legitimate ruler of China at a time, and that this ruler had the blessing of the gods. They used this Mandate to justify their overthrow of the Shang, and their subsequent rule.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Zhou claimed that their rule was justified by the Mandate of Heaven. In other words, the Zhou believed that the Shang kings had become immoral with their excessive drinking, luxuriant living, and cruelty, and so had lost their mandate.

Detailed explanation-3: -When the Zhou tribe overthrew the last Shang king, they had to convince the people, especially the nobles, that they had the right to rule. The Zhou told people that the gods in heaven had told them that they were to rule. This was called “The Mandate of Heaven", heaven’s orders.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Zhou used the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their overthrow of the Shang Dynasty and to justify the rule of the Zhou Dynasty. Unlike the European concept of the “divine right” of kings, the Mandate of Heaven could be given to a person of common birth and could be lost.

Detailed explanation-5: -To legitimize their overthrow of Shang, they introduced the concept of Heaven (Tian), and the Mandate of Heaven. They believed that a king could rule only if he received heaven’s favor. This belief carried a sacred moral power and required that a king, the Son of Heaven, be a virtuous ruler.