5 The Sui and Tang Dynasties
The Sui Dynasty unified China in 589 under a Chinese emperor for thefirst
time since the fall of the Han Dynasty. Yang Jian, the founding emperor,
posthumously known as Sui Wendi, began his career as a high official
under the Northern Zhou and was actually the father-in-law of the last
Northern Zhou emperor. Yang had worked dutifully for the Yuwen
imperial house, earning a Xianbei surname as a mark of favor, in addition
to marrying his daughter to the emperor. Yang seized power soon after a
six-year-old child succeeded to the throne, and he exterminated most of
the Yuwen clan. He established the Sui dynasty on 4 March 581. Yang was
remarkably successful in quickly consolidating his power and shifting over
to the conquest of southern China. By 589 , Sui navies and armies had
defeated every polity in the Chinese ecumene.
Yang Jian himself, though a member of the northern Chinese aristoc-
racy, was fully conversant with Xianbei culture. He was also a devout
Buddhist, who hoped that his religion would help unite his empire, while
at the same time promoting Confucianism to aid in governing society.
Even Daoism was not wholly neglected. Yang reorganized the government
institutions he had inherited in order to centralize power. His interest in
controlling the reins of power extended even to the Buddhism he supported;
he was careful to regulate the Buddhist clergy. He and his son, Yang Guang,
posthumously known as Sui Yangdi, understood the need to rule by means
other than force of arms alone. They also knew that they had to gainfirm
control over the soldiers and armies if they were to stay in power.
The Sui government instituted two policies after conquering southern
China that had important consequences for martial arts as well as govern-
ing. In 590 , Yang Jian ordered soldiers and their families to be settled on
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