C o p y r i g h tb yM c G r a w -H i l l E d u c a t i o n . NAME DATE CLASS Early China Guided Reading Cont. The Zhou: China’s Longest Dynasty Directions Fill in the blanks. Zhou kings governed China much like Shang rulers. The king led the government, ruling with the help of a(n) . The Zhou king divided the kingdom into . He assigned loyal to govern each of the territories. These positions were —when an aristocrat died, a son or another member of his family governed the territory. Zhou kings introduced a new idea to Chinese government. They claimed that the king’s right to rule came from the . This is called the . The king must rule by the proper “Way,” known as the . Under Zhou kings, the Chinese developed new systems to the land. With a better water supply, farmers were able to grow more crops than ever before. China’s trade also expanded. have found pieces of Chinese silk in central Asia and as far away as Greece. Their findings suggest that Chinese reached many different areas of the world. Over time, the who ruled the territories of the Zhou kingdom grew more powerful. These rulers began to fight one another for power. These wars began in the 400s B.C. and went on for nearly 200 years. Because each aristocrat formed his own state, this time in China’s history is called the “.