STABLE FOOD SUPPLY
The peasants were at the bottom of the social structure and they provided the food supply. The peasants were the ones that the Zhou dynasty depended on for a stable food supply. The peasants spent some of their time working on the Lord's land. Usually, the land was divided into 9 sections and the individual families would work on the eight sections then all together they would work on the ninth, but all the crops from it went to the Lord. After 600 BC coins were used in China and some peasants paid there lord taxes rather than work on his land. Since there weren't as many crops to be made for the lord and for the food supply in the Zhou Dynasty in 400 BC farmers used iron plows drawn by oxen.That helped the Zhou Dynasty food supply much more stable since they could get the job done faster and easier with animals doing some of the work. There were many other inventions and irrigation things that made china grow larger during the Zhou Dynasty. you can see more about the inventions that they made in technology.