Under this system, ancient monarchs granted titles of nobility, land, and people

to their relatives and officials of merit, allowing them to establish dukedoms.

Each territory was smaller than that under the direct control of the monarch, and

had its own military and administrative systems. All dukedoms checked each

other while protecting the monarch together. As a political scheme, the feudal

system is believed to have started in the era of the legendary Yellow Emperor,

and became established in the Western Zhou Dynasty. In more than 2000 years

from the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, centralized government or imperial

autocracy was dominant, rendering the feudal system supplementary.