THE SUI DYNASTY 581-618

 THE SUI DYNASTY 581-618

The Sui dynasty (/swɛɪ/ SWAY) was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged period of political division since the War of the Eight Princes.

The dynasty was founded by Yang Jian (Emperor Wen), who had been a member of the military aristocracy that had developed in the northwest during the prolonged period of division.^[2] The Sui capital was initially based in Daxing (Chang'an, modern Xi'an), but later moved to Luoyang in 605, which had been re-founded as a planned city. Wen and his successor Emperor Yang undertook various centralising reforms, most notably among them the equal-field system that aimed to reduce economic inequality and improve agricultural productivity, the Five Departments and Six Boards [zh] system, which preceded the Three Departments and Six Ministries system, and the standardisation and re-unification of the coinage. The Sui also encouraged the spread of Buddhism throughout the empire. By the dynasty's mid-point, the state experienced considerable prosperity, enjoying a vast agricultural surplus that supported rapid population growth.

Rulers

Posthumous name	Birth name	Reign	Era name
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)	604–618[a]	Dàyè (大業) 605–618
Gōngdì (恭帝)	Yang You	617–618[a]	Yìníng (義寧) 617–618
Gōngdì (恭帝)	Yang Tong	618–619[a]	Huángtài (皇泰) 618–619