The Zhou Dynasty, the political and military control of China by the Ji family, began in the eleventh century BCE when its founders overthrew the centuries long rule of the Shang dynasty.

Few records survive from this early period and accounts from the Western Zhou period cover little beyond a list of kings with uncertain dates.

When the twelfth and last king of the Western Zhou period replaces his wife with a concubine, the former queen's powerful father joins forces with Quanrong barbarians to sack the western capital of Haojing and kill the king in 770 BCE.

Most of the Zhōu nobles withdraw from the Wei River valley and the capital is reestablished downriver at the old eastern capital of Chengzhou near modern-day Luoyang.

This is the start of the Eastern Zhou period.