Sui Dynasty

Native name	|conventional_long_name = Sui
Common name	Sui Dynasty
Continent	Asia
Region	Pacific
Country	China
Status	Empire
Government type	Monarchy
Year start	581
Year end	618
P1	Northern Zhou Dynasty
P2	Chen Dynasty
S1	Tang Dynasty
Image map2	China, 610.svg
Image map caption2	Sui's China, and Sui divisions under Yangdi.
Image map3	Image:SuiEmpire.jpg
Image map caption3	Sui China, bordering the Gokturk Khanates
Capital	Chang'an (Daxing)
Common languages	Middle Chinese
Philosophy	Confucianism
Religion	Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion
Currency	Chinese coin, Chinese cash
Leader1	Emperor Wen of Sui
Leader2	Emperor Yang of Sui
Year leader1	581 - 604
Year leader2	604 - 617
Title leader	Emperor
|title deputy	Chancellor
Stat year1	609
Stat pop1	est. 46,019,956

The Sui Dynasty ( 581-618 CE and in the undertaking of other construction projects, including the reconstruction of the Great Wall. Weakened by costly and disastrous military campaigns against Goguryeo which ended with the defeat of Sui in the early seventh century, the dynasty disintegrated through a combination of popular revolts, disloyalty, and assassination.

History

Emperor Wen and the founding of the Sui Dynasty

, sandstone, Tianlongshan Grottoes, Shanxi, 6th century.]] When the Northern Zhou Dynasty defeated the Northern Qi Dynasty in 577 CE, this was the culminating moment and ultimate advantage for the northern Chinese to face south. The southern dynasties had lost hope in conquering the north, and the situation of conquest from north-to-south was only delayed in 523 with civil war.

The Sui Dynasty began when Emperor Wen's daughter became the Empress Dowager of Northern Zhou, with her stepson as the new emperor. After crushing an army disused in the eastern provinces as the prime minister of Zhou, Emperor Wen took the throne by force and proclaimed himself emperor. In a bloody purge, he had fifty-nine princes of the Zhou royal family eliminated yet nevertheless became known as the 'Cultured Emperor' (581 - 604 CE). Emperor Wen abolished the anti-Han policies of Zhou and reclaimed his Han surname of Yang. Having won the support of Confucian scholars who had powered previous Han dynasties (abandoning the nepotism and corruption of the nine-rank system), Emperor Wen initiated a series of reforms aimed at strengthening his empire for the wars that would reunify China.

In his campaign for southern conquest, Emperor Wen assembled thousands of boats to confront the naval forces of the Chen Dynasty on the Yangtze River. The largest of these ships were very tall, having five layered decks and the capacity for 800 passengers. They were outfitted with six 50-foot-long booms that were used to swing and damage enemy ships, or to pin them down so that Sui marine troops could use act-and-board techniques. Besides employing Xianbei and other Chinese ethnic groups for the fight against Chen, Emperor Wen also employed the service of aborigines from southeastern Sichuan, a people that Sui had recently conquered.

In 588 CE, the Sui had amassed 518,000 troops along the northern bank of the Yangtze River, stretching from Sichuan to the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, the Chen Dynasty was collapsing and could not withstand such an assault. By 589 CE, Sui troops entered Jiankang (Nanjing) and the last emperor of the southern Chen dynasty surrendered. The city was razed to the ground, while Sui troops escorted Chen nobles back north, where the northern aristocrats became fascinated with everything the south had to provide culturally and intellectually.

Although Emperor Wen was famous for bankrupting the state treasury with warfare and construction projects, he made many improvements to infrastructure during his early reign. He established granaries as sources of food and as a means to regulate market prices from the taxation of crops, much like the earlier Han Dynasty.

Emperor Yang of Sui

.]] Emperor Yang of Sui gained the throne after his father's death, possibly by murder. He further extended the empire but unlike his father he did not seek to gain support from the nomads. Instead, he restored Confucian education and the Confucian examination system for bureaucrats. By supporting educational reforms, he lost the support of the nomads. He also started many expensive construction projects such as the Grand Canal of China, and became embroiled in several costly wars. Between these policies, invasions into China from Turkic nomads, and his growing life of decadent luxury at the expense of the peasantry, he lost public support and was eventually assassinated by his own ministers.

Both Emperors Wen and Yang sent military expeditions into Vietnam as Annam in northern Vietnam had been incorporated into the Chinese empire over 600 years earlier during the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 CE). However, the ancient Kingdom of Champa in southern Vietnam became a major counterpart to Chinese invasions to its north. According to Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais, these invasions became known as the Linyi-Champa Campaign (602-605 CE).

Goguryeo-Sui wars

The biggest factor that led to the downfall of Sui Dynasty was a series of massive expeditions into the Korean Peninsula to invade Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. The war that conscripted the most soldiers was caused by Emperor Yang of Sui. This army was so enormous it recorded in historical texts that it took 30 days for all the armies to exit their last rallying point near Shanhaiguan before invading Korea. In one instance the soldiers—both conscripted and paid—listed over 3000 warships, 1.15 million infantry, 50,000 cavalry, 5000 artillery, and more. There were as many supporting laborers and an exorbitant military budget that included mounds of equipment and rations (most of which never reached the Chinese vanguard, as they were captured by Goguryeo armies already). The army stretched to 1000 li or about 410 kilometers across rivers and valleys, over mountains and hills.

In all four main campaigns, the military conquest ended in failure. Nearly all the Chinese soldiers were defeated by the prominent army leader Eulji Mundeok of Goguryeo. According to the Book of Tang, of the 305,000 Chinese troops, only 2,700 returned to China. Soldiers in summer conquests would return several years later, barely living through the cold and famishing winter. Many died of frostbite and hunger.

Fall

. The P-shaped scabbard mount of the bottom sword is said to be derived from the swords of the Sarmatians and Sassanians.]] Eventually resentment of the emperor increased and the wars, coupled with revolts and assassinations, led to the fall of the Sui Dynasty. One great accomplishment was rebuilding the Great Wall of China, but this, along with other large projects, strained the economy and angered the resentful workforce employed. During the last few years of the Sui Dynasty, the rebellion that rose against it took many of China's able-bodied men from rural farms and other occupations, which in turn damaged the agricultural base and the economy further. Men would deliberately break their limbs in order to avoid military conscription, calling the practice "propitious paws" and "fortunate feet." Ultimately, this act was an imitation of the ancient Mauryan Emperor Ashoka of India.

Rulers of the Sui Dynasty

{| border=1 cellpadding=4 style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse" |- bgcolor="#efefef" | Posthumous Name (Shi Hao 諡號)
Convention: "Sui" + name || Birth Name || Period of Reign || Era Names (Nian Hao 年號) and their according range of years |- | Wéndì (文帝) || Yáng Jiān (楊堅) || 581-604 || Kāihuáng (開皇) 581-600
Rénshòu (仁壽) 601-604 |- | Yángdì (煬帝) or
Míngdì (明帝) || Yáng Guǎng (楊廣) || 605-618 || Dàyè (大業) 605-617 |- | Gōngdì (恭帝) || Yáng Yòu (楊侑) || 617-618 || Yìníng (義寧) 617-618 |- | Gōngdì (恭帝) || Yáng Tóng (楊侗) || 618-619 || Huángtài (皇泰) 618-619 |}

See also

Chinese sovereign

Grand Canal of China

History of China

List of tributaries of Imperial China

References

Further reading

Bingham, Woodbridge. 1941. The Founding of the T'ang Dynasty: The Fall of the Sui and Rise of the T'ang. Baltimore: Waverly Press.

Wright, Arthur F. 1978. The Sui Dynasty: The Unification of China. A.D. 581-617. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. ISBN 0-394-49187-4 ; 0-394-32332-7 (pbk).

Ebrey, Patricia. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge University Press, Hong Kong. ISBN 0-521-43519-6

External links

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/sui.html

History of China: A good catalogue of info

Category:618 disestablishments Category:States and territories established in 581 Category:581 establishments