SUI WEN-TI 541 - 604 Chinese Emperor Sui Wen Ti was the founder of the Sui dynasty, which brought about the second unification of China after more than 300 years of division. As military commander of the Northern Chou dynasty (557 - 581) he seized power in in 581 and proclaimed the new Sui dynasty. He immediately centralized the government and began to reunify China. He conquered the various states in the South and defeated the Mongols in the northern part of the country. (see map) Under his successor Yang Ti the Grand Canal was built joining northern China with the Yangtze river which by then had become a major grain growing area.
Yang Ti's building projects imposed such a heavy burden
that the people revolted and the emperor was forced to flee to south
China where he was assassinated, which meant that the short-lived Sui dynasty
came to a sudden end.
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