Predynastic Zhou in the context of "State (Ancient China)"

Ancient Chinese states (traditional Chinese: 諸侯國; simplified Chinese: 诸侯国; pinyin: Zhūhóu guó) were dynastic polities of China within and without the Zhou cultural sphere prior to Qin's wars of unification. They ranged in size from large estates, to city-states to much vaster territories with multiple population centers. Many of these submitted to royal authority, but many did not—even those that shared the same culture and ancestral temple surname as the ruling house. Prior to the Zhou conquest of Shang, these ancient states were already extant as units of the preceding Shang dynasty, Predynastic Zhou or polities of other cultural groups. Once the Zhou had established themselves, they made grants of land and relative local autonomy to kinfolk in return for military support and tributes, under a system known as fengjian.

The rulers of the states were collectively the zhuhou (諸侯; 诸侯; zhūhóu; 'many lords'). Over the course of the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE), the ties of family between the states attenuated, the power of the central government waned, and the states grew more autonomous. Some regional rulers granted subunits of their own territory to ministerial lineages who eventually eclipsed them in power and in some cases usurped them. Over time, the smaller polities were absorbed by the larger ones, either by force or willing submission, until only one remained: Qin (秦), which unified the realm in 221 BCE and became China's first imperial dynasty.

King Wu of Zhou (died c. 1043 BC), personal name Ji Fa, was the founding king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty. The chronology of his reign is disputed but is generally thought to have begun around 1046 BC and ended with his death three years later.

King Wu was the second son of the Zhou elder Ji Chang (posthumously titled King Wen) and Tai Si. In most accounts, his older brother Bo Yikao was said to have predeceased his father, typically at the hands of King Zhou of Shang, the last king of the Shang dynasty. In the Book of Rites, however, it is assumed that his inheritance represented an older tradition among the Zhou of passing over the eldest son. (Fa's grandfather Jili had likewise inherited Zhou despite having two older brothers.)

The Battle of Muye, Mu, or Muh (c. 1046 BC) was fought between forces of the ancient Chinese Shang dynasty led by King Zhou of Shang and the rebel state of Zhou led by King Wu. The Zhou defeated the Shang at Muye and captured the Shang capital Yin, marking the end of the Shang and the establishment of the Zhou dynasty—an event that features prominently in Chinese historiography as an example of the Mandate of Heaven theory that functioned to justify dynastic conquest throughout Chinese history.
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King Wen of Zhou (Chinese: 周文王, Zhōu Wén Wáng; 1152–1050 BC) was the posthumous title given to Ji Chang (Xiahou) (姬昌), the patriarch of the Zhou state during the final years of Shang dynasty in ancient China. Ji Chang himself died before the end of the Zhou–Shang war. His second son Ji Fa completed the conquest of Shang following the Battle of Muye and posthumously honored him as the founder of the Zhou dynasty. Many of the hymns of the Classic of Poetry are paeans of praise to King Wen. Some consider him the first epic hero of Chinese history.

Bo Qin (Chinese: 伯禽; pinyin: Bóqín), also known as Qin Fu (禽父), also known by his posthumous name as the Duke Tai of Lu (魯太公), was the founder of the Lu state, a dynastic vassal state of the Zhou dynasty.

Born into the royal Ji family, he was the eldest son of Dan, the Duke of Zhou. Instead of inheriting his father's estate in Zhou, he was granted the newly established State of Lu centered at Qufu. He is thought to have ruled Lu from around 1042 to 997 BC.