Sunday, January 13, 2008

Sui Dynasty

The Sui Dynasty of China began in 581 AD and ended in 618 AD, existing for only less than 40 years. After the collapse of Han Dynasty in 220 AD, Sui Dynasty later became well-known for unifying China back together once more time. Emperor Wen or Yang Jian originated the Sui Dynasty and its capital city is at Chang'an. During this dynasty, there were many achievements and that's how Sui Dynasty became one of the Chinese most important dynasties.(www.archaeology.about.com) Not only this, Buddhism were also first to be supported by the Sui's rulers. (Microsoft Encarta 2007) With a great succeed on the economic, with great reforms and a overwhelming culture, some historians often compare the Sui Dynasty with the Qin Dynasty. (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/)

In 577 AD, the Northern Zhou Dynasty defeated the Northern Qi Dynasty. Knowing that they have a superb advantage in their hand, they face south and conquer their enemies. Wendi 's daughter later became the Empress Dowager of Northern Zhou, along with her stepson as the new emperor. During that time, there was a mutiny in the eastern provinces. Wendi had fifty-nine princes and the Zhou royal family killed, took power, regain his Han surname of Yang and claimed himself to be the emperor. His main focuses was to strengthen the empire and reunify China. He successfully conquered other two kingdoms; Ch'in and Han(http://www.chinaknowledge.de/%20History/Tang/sui-event.html)




In order to make himself more popular, he tried to make the government better than before in the course of the Three kingdoms. He also instructed the poor people outside of the city to pay less taxes than in the past. Men were also sent by him to all the provinces to calculate how much taxes that province ought to pay. Not only this, he also gave every man specific amount of land, and if a man reaches his 60, he would need to return the land, and then he wouldn't need to pay anymore taxes. When Wendi picks his government officials, he would use Han Dynasty way of picking to pick out the smartest and best educated men only. (http://www.chinaknowledge.de/)


During the Sui Dynasty, to the far west of China, there is one leader from a civilization with different culture, life style and appearance. His name is Heraclius (575 - February 11, 641) was a Byzantine Emperor of Armenian descent, who ruled the Roman Empire from October 5, 610 to February 11, 641. (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/)


There were many accomplishments in the Sui Dynasty, which had made Sui one of China's most important dynasties. In the category of technology and inventions, there were astronomy, mathematic, agirculture, medicine, geographical reports, architecture, ceramics, and invention of book printing. In the field of astronomy, they were able to calculate the paths of the sun, the moon, the ecliptic and the movement of different constellations. In the field of mathematic, Wang Xitong wrote a book called Oigu Suanjing, in which he explains the solution of third degree equations. In the field of agriculture, there were new technologies like a curved shaft ploughing, cultivating techniques, tea bushes, a sophisticated irrigation system, the Great Canal, which allows ship to travel form north to south, and many other books written about agriculture. In the field of medicine, there were improvement in dentistry, discovery of the blood circuit and the digestion system.The philosophy and anthology of Tang poetry was also a great accomplishment There were improvements in book printing and mapping. In architecture, there are improvements in preservation of wood material buildings and structure, and also a great improvement in ceramics. . (www.chinaknowledge.de)

During the Sui, the Chinese economy grew impressively. One of the main reason is because of misuse of the area south of the Yangtze River. A lot of huge and serious development had began there, causing millions of people from the north to settled here. In 587, there were competitions to see who would get to go work for the government. Men were tested on Confucian classics called the Xiucai (Examination System). During that time, land was the most important resource of wealth, so the Sui controls access to the land in order to decrease the space between the poor and the rich. (Microsoft Student Encarta 2007)


Among the nomadic peoples, men and women are traditionally more equal. Carpets, jewelries, and glass from Persia are the things that wealthy Chinese pay high prices for. The northern part and southern part are like two regions with a lot of difference. In order to unify the two regions together, the Sui emperors supported Buddhism. When China have finally been unified, China most important religion has become Buddhism. The Sui emperors also contributes in building or repairing places of worship, temples and giving lands. (Microsoft Encarta 2007)




Wendi died at an early age, he wasn't that old at that time and he might have been kill my his own son, Yang Ti. Yang Ti wanted to take his father's position and be the emperor himself, and he did become the new emperor of Sui. Because of his obsession of becoming a great emperor, he had set many important projects. (www.chinaknowledge.de) One of his best project was the Grand Canal project, connecting the Yangtze Rivers, Huai and Yellow River together. It resulted of a more convenient transportation from northern to southern China. One of his worst project was that he try to take control over Korean by attacking them. He recruited an army of over a million men, but they failed to defeat their enemy, and resulting of themselves running away. Yang Ti decisions and failure had made the army generals very angry and they killed Yang Ti. And this is how the Sui Dynasty ended, with the death of emperor Yang Ti by his own people's hands. (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/)


Bibliography


PICTURES


1. Heraclius. Wikipedia. 12 Jan 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Heraclius-coin.jpg>.
2. Microsoft Student Encarta. CD-ROM.2007 ed.
3. Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/1xarsui1.htm>.
4. Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui_Dynasty>.
5. Microsoft Student Encarta. CD-ROM.2007 ed.
6. 12 Jan 2008 <http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/e/e2/220px-Mahayanabuddha.jpg>

TEXT


1.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/classical_imperial_china/sui.html>.


2.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/sui/>.


3.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/sui.html>.


4.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.yutopian.com/history/sui.html>.


5.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Tang/sui.html>.


6.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/imperial2.html>.


7.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.sacu.org/dynsui.html>.

8.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_22794.htm>.


9. Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui_Dynasty>.


0.Sui Dynasty. 12 Jan 2008 <http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=13969&coll_package=26209 >.