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The Sui Dynasty (; 581 - 619 AD ) followed the Southern And Northern Dynasties and preceded the Tang Dynasty in China . It ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. The Sui Dynasty, founded by was standardized and re-unified; defense was improved, and the Great Wall was expanded. Buddhism was also spread and encouraged throughout the empire, uniting the varied people and cultures of China. This dynasty has often been compared to the earlier Qin Dynasty in tenure and the ruthlessness of its accomplishments. The Sui dynasty's early demise was attributed to the government's tyrannical demands on the people, who bore the crushing burden of taxes and compulsory labor. These resources were overstrained in the completion of the Grand Canal --a monumental engineering feat-- 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 defeat of Sui in the early seventh century, the dynasty disintegrated through a combination of popular revolts, disloyalty, and assassination. WENDI AND THE FOUNDING THE SUI DYNASTY , sandstone, Tianlongshan Grottoes, Shanxi , 6th Century .]] When the Northern Zhou Dynasty defeated the Northern Qi Dynasty in 577 AD, 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 ), Wendi initiated a series of reforms aimed at strengthening his empire for the war that would reunify China. In his campaign for southern conquest, Wendi assembled thousands of boats to confront the naval forces of the , peoples that Sui had recently conquered.Ebrey, Walthall, Palais, (2006). ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Page 89. In AD, 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 Wendi 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 . Buddhism , Sui era artist.]] Buddhism was popular during the Six Dynasties period that preceded the Sui dynasty, spreading from India through Kushan Afghanistan into China during the Late Han period. Buddhism gained prominence during the period, when central political control was limited. Buddhism created a unifying cultural force that uplifted the people out of war and into the Sui Dynasty. In many ways, Buddhism was responsible for the rebirth of culture in China under the Sui Dynasty. The Emperor Wen and his empress had converted to Buddhism to legitimate imperial authority over China and the conquest of Chen. Wendi presented himself as a Emperor Ashoka of India .Ebrey, Walthall, Palais, (2006). ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Page 89. YANGDI .]] Yangdi 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 nomads. He also started many expensive construction projects such as the Grand Canal Of China . This combined with his failed invasions into Korea (with Chinese casualties exceeding well over 2 million in all the wars combined), 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 assassinated by his own ministers. Both Wendi and Yangdi sent military ventures into Vietnam as well, as northern Vietnam had been incorporated into the Chinese empire during the previous Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD). However, the ancient Kingdom of Champa in southern Vietnam became a major contestant to Chinese invasions to its north. These invasions became known as the Linyi-Champa Campaign ( 602 - 605 AD). According to Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais:
GOGURYEO-SUI WARS ''Main article: Goguryeo-Sui Wars '' Arguably, the biggest factor that led to the downfall of Sui Dynasty was the 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 Sui Yangdi. The army was so enormous it was actually 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 just as many supporting laborers, and an exorbitant military budget that included mounds of equipment and rations (most of which never reached the Chinese avant-guard, as they were captured by Goguryeo armies already). The army stretched to "1000 lis (a Chinese unit of length, in modern translation one half-kilometer, though its precision in antiquity may be questioned), or about 410 kilometers, across rivers and valleys, over mountains and hills." In all 4 main campaigns, the military conquest ended in failure. Nearly all the Chinese soldiers were defeated by the prominent army leader Eulji Mundeok of Goguryeo. For example, of the 305,000 Chinese troops, only 2,700 returned to China, according to the Book Of Tang records, soldiers in summer conquests would return several years later, barely living through the cold and famishing winter. Many died of frostbite and hunger. FALL Eventually the resentment for 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 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 damaged the agricultural base and the economy further.Benn, 2. Men would deliberately break their limbs in order to avoid military Conscription , calling the practice "propitious paws" and "fortunate feet." In the year 642, Emperor Taizong Of Tang made an effort to eradicate this practice by issuing a decree of a stiffer punishment for those who were found to deliberately injure themselves. RULERS OF SUI DYNASTY NOTES FURTHER READING
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/sui.html |
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