The Sui Dynasty in China
3 min readThe Sui Dynasty（581-618AD）
By the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties（420一589AD），China had witnessed disunity and chaos for about 270 years.
In 577 AD，the Northern Zhou conquered the Northern Qi and reunified the North China.The Northern Zhou，known as the reign of Yuwen family of the Xianbei ethnic group，continued for 24 years with five emperors over three generations.In 581 AD，Yang Jian ，a relative of the royal family，usurped the throne and renamed the empire the Sui Dynasty with Changan（present Xi’an City）as his capital city.
Yang Jian was historically called Emperor Wen .After the founding of the empire，Emperor Wen quickly carried out a series of military plans to unify the country.Finally in 589，Emperor Wen wiped out the Chen Dynasty（the last of the four dynasties in the south）and reunified the south and the north.The Sui Dynasty lasted for only 38 years withtwo generations.History shows it was one of the short-lived Chinese dynasties.And Inner Mongolia areas were built in this period to withstand the attack of Tujue （Turks）tribe.
The Sui Dynasty’s early demise was attributed to the government’s tyranny and ceaseless wars.Emperor Wen died unexpectedly in 604 and his second son Yang Guang，historically known as Emperor Yang，succeeded to the throne.In the early part of his reign Emperor Yang benefited from the reforms introduced by his father and the Sui Dynasty achieved full economic prosperity.
However，lulled by his easy success，Emperor Yang soon began to abuse his power.On the one hand，he continued to carry out lavish construction projects，such as the Great Wall，the Great Canal and the rebuilding his Dongdu，Eastern Capital，in Luoyang.On the other hand，he repeatedly went on pleasure trips and all too frequently launched wars on his neighbors.Some of Emperor Yang’s policy did contribute a lot to the social development and the stability of the country，however，they made the ordinary people“all out at theelbows”.Nearly every tyrant did the same thing in Chinese History.
Emperor Yang’s extravagance and putridity finally led to the exhaustion of the country’s resources.Beginning in 613AD，rebellions broke out one by one.In 616 AD，forced by the chaotic situation，Emperor Yang，retreated to Jiangdu（present Yangzhou City in Jiangsu Province）.With the emperor absent，Li Yuan，a general stationed in Taiyuan，conquered Chang’an and put a new puppet emperor on the throne.
In 618AD，Emperor Yang was murdered in Jiangdu by one of his aides.Quickly，Li Yuan deposed the new emperor and established his own dynasty in Chang’an-the Tang Dynasty，declaring himself Emperor.From then China saw another long and prosperous period in its history.
A Story of the Evil Tyrant
Emperor Yang is a vicious man in Chinese history who is said to have made women bind their feet. He lived in luxury and often had a trip on the Grand Canal. He used to sit on a huge yacht pulled by two teams of beautiful girls along both banks. He ordered that they have their feet bound with long stripes so that they couldn’t walk steadily. He enjoyed watching women walk that way, swinging their buttocks left and right.
From then on, Chinese women began to have a pair of lily feet. Therefore, the Chinese traditionally think it ugly for women to have large feet. Foot binding make a woman semicripple, which is really an ugly thing in Chinese culture.
Another ugliness is the eunuch system. The male servants in the court should be castrated for the sake of envy of the emperor who alone has the privilege to womanize. Every feudal ruler has such a psychology. Nobody knows or says who started doing this but it became popular from the Han Dynasty. Originally it was a punishment, for the rulers didn’t want criminals to generate.
