In the spring of 771 bc, the Western Rong poured into the middle Wei River valley, plundering the Zhou capitals Feng and Hao and killing the last Zhou king, You (r. 781–771 bc). The Western Zhou dynasty came to an end. In many regards, the eventual downfall of the Western Zhou state was the last phase of the prolonged warfare between the Zhou and the Xianyun. When the new king, Ping (r. 770–720 bc), was established after the death of his father, it was clearly impossible for him to maintain the Zhou court in the Wei River valley, in the immediate reach of the Xianyun who could renew their attacks at any time, much less to rule from it. Thus, King Ping decided to move the royal court to the eastern capital Luoyi, and thereby opened another era in Chinese history.

However, the “fall of the Western Zhou” meant much more than just the change in the geographical location of the Zhou capital. It put an end to the long-standing domination of Zhou royal power over the middle and lower Yellow River regions; the Western Zhou state as a complex political organism was extinguished. More significantly, the year 771 bc also marked the end of the long history of the early Chinese states that had sustained the largest society in East Asia since at least the founding of the Shang dynasty in the sixteenth century bc.