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It's not at all clear why the smaller and much less technically sophisticated Zhou were able to defeat the powerful and well organised Shang state.
技术相对落后、实力也较弱小的周如何打败了强大而有组织的商，至今仍是未解之谜。
They seem to have had a striking ability to absorb and to shape allies into a coherent attacking force;
他们似乎有种特别的能力，能吸收整合异族，让他们与自己并肩作战，
but above all, they were buoyed up by their faith in themselves as a chosen people.
但最重要的是，他们被一种信念所鼓舞，相信自己是奉上天的旨意而战斗。
In first capturing, and then ruling, the Shang kingdom, they saw themselves-as so many conquering forces do - as enacting the will of the gods.
与许多征服者一样，他们推翻并接管商朝时认为自己是替天行道。
So they fought with the confidence born of knowing that they were to be the rightful inheritors of the land.
因此在战斗中，他们坚信自己才是天下的合法统治者。
But-and this was new-they articulated this belief in the form of one controlling concept, which was to become a central idea in Chinese political history.
而且，他们明确地将其用思想控制的形式表达了出来一这在世界上尚属首创—并使之成为中国政治史的核心。
The Zhou are the first to formalise the idea of the Mandate of Heaven:
周朝是第一个明确提出“天命”的王朝。
the Chinese notion that heaven blesses and sustains the authority of a just ruler.
中国人认为上天会庇佑正义的统治者。
An impious and incompetent ruler would displease the gods, who would withdraw their mandate from him.
对上天不敬或昏庸无能的统治者则会触怒神明，使其收回天命。
So on this view, it followed that the defeated Shang must have lost the Mandate of Heaven, which had passed to the virtuous, victorious Zhou.
因此，战败的商朝必定是失去了上天的庇佑，神明转而庇佑德行高尚的周。
From this time on, the Mandate of Heaven became a permanent feature of Chinese political life, underpinning the authority of rulers or justifying their removal, as Wang Tao, archaeologist at the University of London tells us:
从此，天命成为中国政治的永恒主题，为君王的统治提供依据，或成为改朝换代的理由。伦敦大学考古学家王涛博士这样描述：
"That transformed the Zhou, because that allowed them to rule other people.
天命改变了周朝，给予他们统治他人的权力。
If you kill the king or senior member of the family, it's the biggest crime you could make.
弑君或杀害尊长是当时最严重的罪行。但任何反抗权威的行为都可以用天命来解释。
So to turn the crime against authority or against a ruler into some justifiable action, you had to have an excuse, and that excuse is the Mandate of Heaven.
它内在的图腾含义相当于西方的民主概念。在中国，如果你触犯了神灵，或违背了民心，就会有凶兆预警—雷电、暴雨或地震。
