China
The long decline of the Zhou, incidentally the longest ruling dynastic house of China, is known as the Warring States Period. Despite the bloodiness and strife of the period, this was the time when many great philosophies emerged - including Confucianism and Daoism as a response to disintegrating central authority of the Zhou kings and fluctuating power of the vassal states, and the general uncertainty of that era. Confucianism and Daoism have been the foundation of many social values seen in modern east Asian cultures today.