by Daniel Xiao Wang

Created on: August 03, 2011   Last Updated: March 07, 2012

The Sui Dynasty began in 581 C.E. when Emperor Wen, “the Cultured Emperor”, seized power in Northern China from the Zhou Dynasty in a military coup. He had fifty nine members of the Zhou family clan put to death. He eliminated the anti-Han (Han being the Chinese ethnic majority) policies of the Zhou Dynasty and won the support of Confucian scholars.

Emperor Wen abandoned the Nine Ranks system of government appointment. In this system, the government identified people of talent and assigned them into one of none ranks, depending on ability. It had become a method by which the ruling elite appointed the rich and powerful, and family members, into high government positions. Under Emperor Wen, the Imperial examination system.

Emperor Wen's main goals though were to establish the policies and the military necessary to unit northern and southern China. Emperor Wen amassed a navy of thousands of boats, from small vessels to ships of enormous size and an army of over half a million strong and marched on the already weakened South. Arriving at the capital of Nanjing, they razed it to the ground.

After Emperor Wen died (scholarly thought and historical records point towards assassination), his son took the throne. Emperor Yang. Emperor Yang fully established the examination system for government appointees and continued the work on infrastructure that his father began. He also continued the legacy of military activity, fielding an army of roughly two million in an attack on Korea (the invasion failed as his force was destroyed by a brutal winter and the strategies of the enemy). Emperor Yang lived a life of luxury, benefiting from the harsh work of the peasantry. In 618CE, he was assassinated and the Sui Dynasty ended.

The entire Sui Dynasty lasted 37 years. In that time, several important architectural projects were accomplished, though only due to harsh forced labor and severe taxation. In addition to the conscription of so many for the Chinese war machine, the Sui Dynasty placed a heavy burden on the Chinese peoples.

Among the feats achieved under the Sui in this short time period were:

* expansion of the Great Wall

* building the Grand Canal

* establishing granaries

* market regulation

* spread of Buddhism

* establishment of the examination system

The Sui Dynasty united Northern and Southern China, saw an influx of culture, and completed large and ambitious construction project. The Sui Dynasty also launched military campaigns that bankrupted the treasury and cost millions of Chinese lives. Both emperors were extremely unpopular and assassinated. The Tang Dynasty replaced the Sui in 618 CE.

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