Emperor Wen of Sui

Emperor Wen of Sui the Chinese emperor (541-604) who reunified the country after three centuries of division, founding the Sui dynasty and initiating reforms of government, law and the canal system that shaped imperial China for centuries. He is remembered as one of the most consequential rulers in Chinese history.

Early Career and the Founding of Sui

Emperor Wen was born in 541 as Yang Jian, into a family of high officials of the Northern Zhou dynasty, which then ruled northern China. His family had served the Xianbei rulers of the north for generations, and his daughter was married to the heir to the throne. He was a man of ability and caution, and he held important military and administrative commands.

In 581 he seized power in a court coup, taking the throne from the young Northern Zhou emperor, and he proclaimed the new Sui dynasty. He chose for it the name Sui, and the following years were spent securing the north and restoring the authority of the central government after the disorders that had followed the fall of the Zhou.

He moved his capital eastward to a new city at Daxing, near present-day Xi'an, which he built as a great planned metropolis. This new capital became the seat of his government and, under the later Tang, it grew into one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

The Reunification of China

The great achievement of Emperor Wen's reign was the reunification of China. Since the fall of the Western Jin in the early fourth century the country had been divided between dynasties of the north and the south, and no ruler had been able to bring the whole together. In 589 his armies, having prepared carefully for years, crossed the Yangtze and conquered the Chen dynasty of the south.

The conquest ended nearly three centuries of division and restored a single empire governed from the north. The last Chen ruler was taken captive, and the south was brought under the administration of the new dynasty. The reunification was celebrated as the restoration of the unity that Chinese tradition regarded as the natural condition of the realm.

To secure the new empire, Emperor Wen strengthened the central government and reduced the power of the regional commands of the old aristocratic families. He reasserted the authority of the throne over the provinces and worked to prevent the rise of local warlords, laying the foundation for the strong centralised state of the Tang.

Reform and Administration

Emperor Wen carried out wide-ranging reforms of government and law. He simplified the chaotic administrative divisions of the previous period, reducing the number of provinces and reorganising the offices of the state. He reformed the legal code, abolishing many cruel punishments and producing a body of law that was more humane and more orderly than its predecessors.

He developed the system by which officials were selected and assessed, and he encouraged the recruitment of men of talent into the civil service. He also reorganised the local administration and created the land and taxation policies by which the state supported itself, including systems of land distribution to the peasants and of grain storage against famine.

His economic and financial measures brought stability after the disorders of the preceding centuries. He built granaries, encouraged agriculture and controlled expenditure, so that the state accumulated great reserves. The prosperity and order of his reign prepared the way for the cultural brilliance of the Tang, which followed soon after.

The Grand Canal and Public Works

Among the most enduring works of the Sui were the canals. Emperor Wen began the construction of a system of waterways linking the capital and the northern plains with the fertile south, and his successors extended it into the Grand Canal, the great engineering achievement of the dynasty.

The canals were built to carry grain and tribute from the rich rice-growing regions of the south to the centres of government in the north. They bound the reunited empire together economically and made possible the movement of food, goods and troops over great distances. The system remained in use for centuries and became a central fact of Chinese economic life.

The emperor also undertook other public works, building roads, walls and the capital, and he patronised the Buddhist religion, which flourished under his rule. Buddhist monasteries and images spread across the empire, and the religion became an established and powerful institution supported by the state.

Later Years and Legacy

In his later years Emperor Wen grew suspicious and more severe, and the question of the succession darkened his last years. He died in 604, and the throne passed to his son, Emperor Yang, under circumstances that were later the subject of controversy and rumour. His son's ambitious projects and costly campaigns led to the collapse of the dynasty within a generation.

Nevertheless the work of Emperor Wen endured. The reunification he accomplished ended centuries of division, and the institutions he reformed, the legal code he established and the administration he built were taken up and developed by the Tang, under whom China entered one of the greatest ages of its history.

He is remembered as the ruler who restored the unity of China and gave it the framework of a strong and orderly state. The Sui dynasty was short, but its founder's achievements in government, law and public works left a permanent mark on Chinese civilisation, and he is counted among the most important emperors of the imperial age.

See also

• Sui dynasty
• Grand Canal
• Daxing
• Tang dynasty