<Tr> <Td_colspan="8"> <Ul> <Li> view </Li> <Li> talk </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> view </Li> <Li> talk </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Zhou dynasty (Chinese: 周 朝; pinyin: Zhōu cháo (ʈʂóu ʈʂhǎu)) was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang dynasty and preceded the Qin dynasty . The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history . The military control of China by the royal house, surnamed Ji (Chinese: 姬; pinyin: Jī (tɕí)), lasted initially from 1046 until 771 BC for a period known as the Western Zhou and the political sphere of influence it created continued well into Eastern Zhou for another 500 years . </P> <P> During the Zhou Dynasty, centralized power decreased throughout the Spring and Autumn Period until the Warring States Period in the last two centuries of the Zhou Dynasty . In this period, the Zhou court had little control over its constituent states that were at war with each other until the Qin state consolidated power and formed the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC . The Zhou Dynasty had formally collapsed only 35 years earlier, although the dynasty had had only nominal power at that point . </P>

Zhou dynasty developed the first system of what