After the overthrow of the Shang in 1122 B.C., the Chou established the longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history, ending in 256 B.C. The Chou rulers justified their conquest of the Shang dynasty as the mandate of heaven. They told the Chinese that the last Shang king had forfeited his right to rule by his personal immorality and tyrannical government. The Karens also believed in divine appointment of leadership and seriously considered the root cause of any change in rulers was due to personal moral defects. The long period of Chou dynasty was divided into the Western Chou, 1122-771 B.C., and the Eastern Chou, 770-256 B.C. When Wu Wang (King Wu) and Chou King (Duke of Chou) began the Chou dynasty, there were 124 vassal states. Later, some of the weak vassal states were reduced and integrated into the strong ones.
Near the end of the dynasty only 72 vassal states left. At that time, the populations were conscripted into the army to fight for the kingdom. Feudalism was widespread and the people were engaged in endless battles between rival states. They didn’t have time to tend their cultivation and large lands lay wasted. Successive rulers tried to make their power strong and in so doing the populations were not allowed to produce crops for their living. State affair was more important than growing rice and famine threatened the kingdom. The Huns and some nomadic tribes could not stand the situation and fled to the North where as the Tibetans to the South. These events happened to be in the reign of King Ping Wang who ascended the throne in 770 B.C. He ruled for fifty years and died in 720 B.C. In the 22 years of his reign, 22 vassal states revolted and declared self-rule. With the royal line broken, the power of Chou court gradually diminished and the fragmentation of the kingdom accelerated. From Ping Wang onwards the Chou kings ruled in name only with true power lying in the hands of powerful nobles. Imperial stability was assured through the Chou court and local land lords as well as the installment of Chou lords into command over distant regions. The kingdom was in grave danger and poverty was common. Only the ruling classes were able to live a life they wished and the poor were left with no hope. Therefore, 33 families of the Karen race left Yunnan in 741 B.C and after 3 years of journey towards the South, they entered Kaw Lar in the year 739 B.C. which marked the beginning of the Karen calendar year.
The bulk of the Karen people who finally reached Kaw Lar had not much choice to choose. Their ancestors had covered a large land area since they left the Old Babylon nearly two thousand years ago. What awaited them now was deep blue sea stretching towards the horizon. Securing the land and claiming it as their own was perhaps the best reward they deserved... They all hoped that the long journeys were ended!!!
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