256 BC

Events in 256 BC 1

• 1046 BC – 256 BC Zhou Dynasty Longest dynasty — Confucius, Taoism and the Hundred Schools of Thought The Zhou dynasty lasted nearly 800 years — the longest in Chinese history. It introduced the Mandate of Heaven (Tianming), the doctrine that rulers govern by divine sanction and lose it through misrule. The later Eastern Zhou period, despite political fragmentation, was China's greatest intellectual age — producing Confucius, Laozi, Sun Tzu and dozens of competing philosophical schools.