The Sui Dynasty (589-618 CE) was a short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it unified China for the first time after nearly four centuries of north-south division. It was followed by the Tang Dynasty.

Founded by Emperor Wen of Sui, the Sui Dynasty capital was at Chang'an (which was renamed Daxing). His reign saw the reunification of Southern and Northern China and the construction of the Grand Canal. Emperors Wen and Yang undertook various reforms including the Equal-field system, which was initiated to reduce the rich-poor social gap that resulted in enhanced agricultural productivity, as well as government centralisation and reforms, creating a new model of governance after centuries of division. The Three Departments and Six Ministries system was officially instituted, coinage was standardized and re-unified, defense was improved and the Great Wall expanded. Buddhism was also spread and encouraged throughout the empire, uniting the varied peoples and cultures of China.

Guan Yu (died 219) was a general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han Dynasty of China. He played a significant role in the civil war that led to the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the establishment of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period, of which Liu Bei was the first emperor.

As one of the best known Chinese historical figures throughout East Asia, Guan's true life stories have largely given way to fictionalized ones, mostly found in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms or passed down the generations, in which his deeds and moral qualities have been lionized. Guan is respected as an epitome of loyalty and righteousness.

Guan was deified as early as the Sui Dynasty and is still worshipped by many Chinese people today, especially in southern China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and their descendants overseas. He is a figure in Chinese folk religion, popular Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism, and small shrines to Guan are almost ubiquitous in traditional Chinese shops and restaurants.

Emperor Yang of Sui (隋煬帝, 569 - April 11, 618), personal name Yang Guang (楊廣), alternative name Ying (英), nickname Amo (阿摩), known as Emperor Ming (明帝) during the brief reign of his grandson Yang Tong), was the second son of Emperor Wen of Sui, and the second emperor of China's Sui Dynasty.

Emperor Yang's original name was Yang Ying, but was renamed by his father, after consulting with oracles, to Yang Guang. Yang Guang was made the Prince of Jin after Emperor Wen established Sui Dynasty in 581. In 588 he was put in charge of the overall command of the five armies that invaded the southern Chen Dynasty, and was widely praised for the success of this campaign. These military achievements, as well as his machinations in finding faults with his older brother Yang Yong, allowed him to become crown prince in 600 after Emperor Wen believed in the accusations against Yang Yong. After the death of his father in 604—a death that most traditional historians believed to be a murder ordered by Yang Guang, although they admit a lack of direct evidence—Yang Guang ascended the throne as Emperor Yang.