Ancient Chinese states 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, the first of 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.
Selected states of the Western Zhou dynasty
The seven Warring States c. 260 BCE
Simplified Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write the Chinese language, with the other being traditional characters. Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore, while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
Excerpt of initial 1935 simplifications promulgated by the Republic of China Department of Education in 1935, later retracted in 1936
The slogan 战无不胜的毛泽东思想万岁!; Zhàn wúbù shèng de Máo Zédōng sīxiǎng wànsuì!; 'Long live the invincible Mao Zedong Thought!' written in simplified characters on Xinhua Gate in Beijing