Why did the power shift from the west to the east of the Zhou dynasty?

It is often the way that power shifts come when there are influential thinkers in one particularly area. This was the case in the Eastern are of China during the Zhou dynasty. There were two different periods: Western Zhou (1046-771 BCE) and Eastern Zhou (770-256 BCE)/ It was called this when the Zhou capital moved eastwards to be safer from invasion.

Near to the end of the last period of the Zhou Dynasty came a rich time of intellectual and artistic production. Great figures such as Laozi, Confucius, Mencius and Mozi lived during the Eastern Zhou period. Their influence still shapes the character of Chinese civilization today.