The 6th century BC was the Spring and Autumn Period. The Spring and Autumn Period is the historical stage of the first half of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in China. From 770 BC to 476 BC, this historical period is called "Spring and Autumn Period". Historian Lu records the major events reported by various countries at that time by year, quarter, month and day, which are recorded in spring, summer, autumn and winter in a year. In a word, he named this chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals.

The Spring and Autumn Period began in 770 BC (the first year of Zhou Pingwang), that is, the year when Zhou Pingwang moved eastward to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and ended in 476 BC (the forty-fourth year of Zhou Dynasty), on the eve of the Warring States Period, with a total of 295 years. One said that it ended in 453 BC, and Han, Zhao and Wei wiped out Zhi's family. The other is that it ended in 403 BC and the three tribes were divided into Jin.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhou Wang's influence weakened, and the princes fought with each other. Qi Huangong, Jin Wengong, Song Xianggong, Qin Mugong, and Chu Zhuangwang successively dominated, and were known as the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period (also known as Qi Huangong, Jin Wengong, Chu Zhuangwang, Prince Helu, and King Gou Jian of Yue).

There was a period of relative peace in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, because all countries were tired by the war and needed a rest. So in 546 BC, 14 countries reached an agreement at the second "army meeting", and the war was temporarily subsided. However, during this period, there were many hegemonic struggles among Wu, Chu and Vietnam in the Yangtze River Basin.

In the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, with the popularization of Niu Geng and the application of iron farm tools, the economy developed rapidly, and there were profound social changes, the development of private fields and the disintegration of well-field system. In some vassal States, the aristocratic forces became powerful and began to compete for power with the monarch.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Chunqiu