Internal political changes also took place as states grew in population and area. The most basic of these was in the pattern of power delegation. Under feudalism, from each of the major centres, and other
towns radiated from the minor cities. From these cities and towns orders were issued, and to them the resources of the countryside were sent. The central plain along the Huang He was the first to be saturated by clusters of cities. This is probably the reason why the central states soon reached the maximum of their influence in the interstate power struggle: unlike the states in peripheral areas, they had no room to expand.
The period of urbanization was also a time of assimilation. The non-Zhou popu- lation caught in the reach of feudal cities could not but feel the magnetic attraction of the civilization represented by the Zhou people and Zhou feudalism. The bronze inscriptions of the Xi Zhou period (1046–771 BC) refer to the disturbances of the barbarians, who could be found prac- tically everywhere. They were the non-Zhou groups scattered in the open spaces. The barbarians in inland China were forced to integrate with one or another of the contenders in the inter- state conflicts. Their lands were annexed, and their populations were moved or absorbed. The strength of the large states owed much to their success at incorpo- rating these non-Chinese groups. By the time of the unification of China in the 3rd century BC, there was virtually no signifi- cant concentration of non-Chinese groups north of the Yangtze River valley and south of the steppe. Bronze pieces attributable to non-Zhou chiefs in the late Chunqiu period show no significant
principal form of local administration in the Zhanguo period.
By that time, practically all the major states had chancellors, who acted as lead- ers of the courts, which were composed of numerous officials. Whereas in the feudal state the officials had been military offi- cers, the more functionally differentiated court of the Zhanguo period usually had a separate corps of civil service person- nel. Local administration was entrusted to prefects, who served limited terms. Prefects were often required to submit annual reports to the court so that the ruler could judge their performance. Regional supervisors were sometimes dispatched to check the work of the pre- fects, a system developed by the later Chinese imperial government into the “censor” system. Fiefs of substantial size were given to only a few people, usually close relatives of the ruler. There was lit- tle opportunity for anyone to challenge the sovereignty of the state. The majority of government employees were not rela- tives of the ruler, and some of them might not even have been citizens of the state. Officials were paid in grain or perhaps in a combination of cash and grain. Archives were kept by scribes on wooden blocks and bamboo strips. These features com- bined indicate the emergence of some form of bureaucracy.
The new pattern was the result of the efforts of many reformers in different states. Both practical men and theoreti- cians helped to form the emerging structure, which, though still crude, was authority had been delegated by the lord
to the vassal. The new state rulers sought ways of maintaining and organizing their power.
In the state of Jin the influence of kinsmen of the ruling house had been trimmed even before Wengong estab- lished his overlordship. Wengong reorganized the government, installing his most capable followers in the key posts. He set up a hierarchical structure that corresponded to the channels of military command. Appointments to these key positions came to be based on a combination of merit and seniority, thus establishing a type of bureaucracy that was to become traditional in Chinese government.
The Chu government was perhaps the oldest true monarchy among all the Chunqiu states. The authority of the king was absolute. Chu was the only major state in which the ruling house survived the chaotic years of the Zhanguo period.
Local administration went through a slow evolution. The prefecture system developed in both Jin and Chu was one innovation. In Jin there were several dozen prefects across the state, each hav- ing limited authority and tenure. The Jin prefect was no more than a functionary, in contrast to the feudal practice. Similar local administrative units grew up in Chu. New lands taken by conquest were organized into prefectures governed by ranking officials who were evidently appointed by the king. The prefecture system of Jin and Chu was to become the
developed among the northern states, including Qin, Zhao, and Yan. The Qin cavalrymen were generally drawn from the northern and northwestern border areas, where there were constant contacts with the steppe peoples. The rise of Yan from a rather obscure state to a major power probably owed much to its suc- cessful adoption of cavalry tactics, as well as to its northern expansion.