This is a period of great social change from slavery to feudalism in the history of China. The emergence of pig iron smelting and casting technology and the wide use of iron tools have greatly improved social productivity and promoted the development of agriculture, handicrafts and civil engineering.
The use of bronzes not only pushed China's agricultural production technology to a new height, but also made agricultural production gradually replace gathering and hunting activities and animal husbandry. By the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, it had become the most important sector in social economy, and laid a foundation for the development of handicraft technology and the production of pig iron smelting and casting technology. The melting point of copper is 1083℃, the required temperature for melting bulk iron is about 1000℃, and the melting point of pig iron is 1 146℃. It is not difficult to master copper smelting technology and further improve blast technology to obtain high temperature of pig iron castings. Therefore, not later than the 6th century BC, pig iron smelting and casting appeared in China, and malleable cast iron made by softening and annealing and the earliest steelmaking and quenching technology in the world were soon invented.
The application of ironware, especially the popularization of cast iron farm tools, became an important symbol of the development of productive forces in this period, which greatly changed the whole technical foundation of the whole society. The use of V-plow and Niu Geng accelerated the formation of farmland development and intensive cultivation tradition, and greatly increased agricultural output.