• 周朝（包括春秋战国）时的“诸侯”是封国君主的统称，而“封建”指的是——分封建国。诸侯可在国内行二级分封（大夫），于是贵族大夫对诸侯效忠，诸侯对天子效忠。而由于嫡长子继承制，“天子”最开始指的可能不是“天的儿子”，而是“最大的儿子”。周天子不仅是政治领袖，还是宗族领袖，是天下所有同姓贵族的族长（大宗），所谓“家国天下”是也。
    During the Zhou Dynasty (including the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods), “zhuhou” was the general term for feudal lords, while “feudalism” referred to the system of dividing land into feudal states. The feudal lords were allowed to conduct secondary land grants within their own states (appointing dukes), so aristocrats and dukes were loyal to the feudal lords, who were in turn loyal to the emperor. Due to the system of primogeniture, the term “emperor” may not have initially referred to “the son of heaven,” but rather “the eldest son.” The Zhou emperor was not only the political leader, but also the leader of his clan, and the head of all noble clans with the same surname throughout the country. This is known as “family, state, and world all together.”

  • 宗法关系是大宗套小宗，在这种体制下，每个人只需做好自己的本职工作即可，简称之为“守礼”。礼制社会中不得逾礼，所以有孔子所说的“非礼勿视，非礼勿听，非礼勿言，非礼勿动”。
    The kinship system of the Zhou Dynasty followed the pattern of large clan subdivided into smaller clans. In this system, each person only needed to perform his or her own duties, which was known as “observing the rites”. In a society governed by rituals, one must not break the rules, as Confucius said, “Do not look unless it is in accordance with the rites, do not listen unless it is in accordance with the rites, do not speak unless it is in accordance with the rites, do not move unless it is in accordance with the rites.”