First of all, from the perspective of the system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the political system of the Western Zhou Dynasty mainly includes the system of enfeoffment, patriarchal clan system and the system of rites and music that plays a maintaining role. The system of enfeoffment, also known as feudal state and founding of the People's Republic of China, is that the Zhou royal family gave the land together with the people on it to his courtiers and established a sub-state to defend the Zhou royal family. The people who were sealed were mainly relatives, heroes and the aristocrats of the previous generation. Generals should obey the orders of the king of Zhou, contribute property to the king of Zhou on schedule, and obey the command to fight. At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the important vassal states were Qilu, Shanxi, and Song. This system is essentially based on slavery, and the central government has no real power and no army. Therefore, when the more advanced centralized feudal system appeared, the Zhou Dynasty entered history, and that was another story.

At the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Wang You mistakenly entered China, and Zhou Pingwang moved its capital to Luoyi, known as the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in history. At this time, the king of Zhou was only a nominal national leader, the royal family declined and his power was marginalized. According to Zuo Zhuan, there were 140 vassal states in the Spring and Autumn Period, and wars were frequent among them. Small vassal States were annexed one after another, and powerful vassal States dominated, but nominally still under the jurisdiction of the central government, and the overlord was rewarded by the Zhou royal family. Therefore, the hegemonic vassal state was not independent from the Zhou Dynasty.

Confucius once compiled a history book called Spring and Autumn Annals, which recorded the history of Lu at that time, and the time span recorded in this history book was roughly the same as that in the Spring and Autumn Period, so later generations called this historical stage the Spring and Autumn Period, referring to the period from 770 BC to 476 BC, which was basically the first half of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The Spring and Autumn Period is a comprehensive concept of historical period and historical events, and the hegemony of princes is only a historical event that happened in this period. .