Sui Dynasty (581-618)

The disunion of China was ended with the establishment of the short-lived Sui dynasty. Historians usually compared it with the Qin dynasty in terms of its short tenure and tyranny. The first emperor of Sui dynasty re-implemented the centralized administrative system of the Han dynasty and resumed the examination that was once used to identify the best-qualified people for the civil service. And also there was a re-establishment of religions. Confucianism regained official ideology. Buddhism was acknowledged as a new ideology for the dynasty. During this time, Buddhism became flourished. The Sui dynasty made a remarkable economy and culture achievement.

In Sui dynasty's farmers burdened heavy taxes and compulsory labors that were considered as the duties to the emperor. Wealth of the dynasty was overstrained with the completion of the Grand Canal-the longest man-made canal in the world, and the restoration of Great Wall. The Sui Dynasty emperors had a big ambition of expending the territory. The military expeditions to conquer Vietnam and Korean ended disastrously. The emperors' ambitious projects and military campaigns led to the downfall of the Sui dynasty.

The Sui dynasty lasted only 37 years. However it laid a solid foundation for the successive Tang Dynasty to achieve the glorious height of China imperial era.