西周国 / Western Zhou Polity
西周国 / Western Zhou polity appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》16丨孙膑庞涓恩怨纠葛 桂陵之战 as the counterpart to 东周国 after the diminished 周王室 domain splits internally. The source mentions it to explain why a 353 BCE attack on “东周” refers to a small Zhou polity rather than the entire Eastern Zhou era.
Its wiki role is contextual. The episode’s main action lies with 齐国, 魏国, and 赵国, but the East-West Zhou split shows the same Warring States pressure from another angle: the royal house still structures the chronology while its own practical territory has become narrow and divided.
《资治通鉴·周纪》76丨谁给了楚顷襄王的自信？ adds the late-Zhou side of the distinction. The episode says 周赧王 is in Western Zhou and that the Son of Heaven’s ritual vessels are also there, while 东周武公 acts as envoy to 楚国. The point is to keep Western Zhou polity separate from the earlier Western Zhou dynasty period.
《资治通鉴·周纪》98丨历史上首个老赖登场了！ gives Western Zhou polity its terminal branch. After 周赧王’s anti-秦国 mobilization fails, 秦昭襄王 accepts the surrender of cities and people, strips away the polity, and reduces the Western Zhou lord’s standing. Western Zhou polity therefore closes as the institutional shell around the last active but failed royal-house move.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》99-4｜谁是孔子后最伟大的思想家？ adds the cleanup after that terminal branch. Zhou people flee east rather than submit to Qin administration, Qin removes Zhou treasures to 咸阳, and the Western Zhou lord is relocated. The source presents this as residue after state extinction rather than as renewed political agency.
Connections
- 周王室 - royal frame.
- 东周国 and Eastern-Western Zhou Split / 东周西周分裂 - paired polity and split pattern.
- 韩国 - state whose attack on Eastern Zhou makes the split relevant in the source.
- 周显王 and 战国时期 - annalistic and period context.
- 周赧王, 东周武公, 九鼎, and 周王室象征威慑 - Zhouji 76 late royal-domain and ritual-object branch.
- 债台高筑, 虚名权威动员陷阱, 秦昭襄王, and 秦国 - Zhouji 98 failed mobilization and polity extinction.
- 咸阳 and 周王室 - Qinji 99 part 4 treasure removal and displaced royal-house residue.