Nepotism seems to be a problem throughout the world. In Chinese
history, the first nepotists which can be distinguished were the
operators of the Zhou dynasty. In the previous eras, people were chosen
by merit to become emperors. For example, a man's genius whose
knowledge helped to avert a disaster helped him rise in the political
ranks. The rulers of Zhou were not chosen this way. They rose to power
by ousting the Shang on a note which resonated with the much later
Mukden Incident by the Japanese to start tensions with China.
In
this wiki passage, we can gain a clear idea what the Zhou thought of the
Shang and the extent reached to portray them as despised and wicked.
They had to resort to mythical exaggeration just to enforce their
bigotry about prohibition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jie_of_Xia
Alcohol lake
According to Liu Xiang’s book Lienü zhuan written much later, around 18 BCE, Jie was corrupted by his infatuation with his concubine Mo Xi (妺喜 or 末喜), who was beautiful, but completely lacking in virtue.[7][8] Among other things, she liked to drink, enjoyed music, and also had a penchant for jugglers and sing-song girls. Apparently, she had Jie order a lake of wine made.[8] They both sailed about in the alcohol lake in an orgy of drunken naked men and women bathing and drinking.[9] She then commanded 3,000 men to drink the lake dry, only to laugh when they all drowned.[8][9] This event was also recorded in the Han Ying’s book Han shi waizhuan.[9][10]
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Although
the story of alcohol lake is the myth according to which the Xia were
necessarily ousted by the Shang it is nonetheless a reference to which
we can assign to the Shang as the last ruler of Shang was supposedly
corrupted by women and alcohol also. This is because the Xia was not a
recorded dynasty and the Zhou were merely fabricating the precedent
where the earlier rulers had even greater reason to fail and be taken
over by Shang.
The custom as it was, before the fall of Shang,
was for an overcrowded community to bid farewell to sons willing to
embark fortunes elsewhere. In the past there was no "credit" so wealth
had to be increased through solid means or else be redistributed.
People moving out of a community ensured that wealth could be preserved
within the family and within the community setting whilst they headed
developing a new community. Collectively they were unsung heroes.
By
contrast, when the Zhou arrived to displace the Shang dynasty elites
their Tibeto-Burman populations increased in number. Instead of
building their own communities they spread across the land onto
communities already built in order to rule them and redistribute them as
fiefs. Once meritocracy was trashed by the Zhou complete disregard for
rules was certain to escalate. China was soon broken up into hundreds
of warring states during the Warring States Period out of which many
unable kingdoms ran by useless kings and princes and their royal
brethren were absorbed by 7 great states. There was Qin, Chu, Zhao,
Wei, Han, Yan, and Qi.
In addition, we can ask how were
Tibeto-Burmans able to overwhelm China? Well, they had the means of
other ethnicities further west and north whom had unparalleled command
of horses. The trend where China got conquered by barbarians on
horseback was a recurring event throughout its history.
Other
ethnicities would not cater to Tibeto-Burman Zhou unless of course they
were somehow better equipped to lead the campaign. This opportunity
came in the form of the Tibeto-Burman language which was linguistically
closer to the Sinitics' which would imply they were better equipped as
negotiators. The Zhou had received influenced by the Sinitics early on
during the Shang dynasty during which they had traded horses to the
Shang as they were mmediately to their west, in the Guangzhong pass and
beyond. The horses which were traded to Shang to help their military
were soon used by the Zhou's forces as they rose up in defiance with
other barbarian allies.
In conclusion, I would count cronyism
alongside nepotism. The Zhou dynasty never proved any more civilized
than the barbarian nations which came after them. Their aim was to
conquer China for themselves and their barbarian aides. The rightful
people of China had been descendants of the Shang, but for their loss
the remnant Shang elites were stationed in a location not far from the
later warring state of Chu. In time the Chu people harbored deep
resentment of those usurpers from the northwest and were mindfully aware
as they executed the entire Qin army during the Qin dynasty's final
days.