Sui dynasty

Dynastic name

The father of Yang Jian, Yang Zhong, was enfeoffed as the Duke of Sui by the Northern Zhou dynasty. Yang Jian inherited this title and was later promoted to Prince of Sui, holding an appanage centered on twenty commanderies including Sui Commandery. When he accepted the abdication of Emperor Jing and took the imperial throne, he adopted Sui as the name of his new dynasty.^[1] According to the traditional cycle of the Five Elements, Northern Zhou ruled under the element of wood, which was succeeded by fire; consequently, the Sui dynasty chose fire as its ruling virtue and red as its official court color.^[2]

The character originally used for the ducal title and fief was Sui (隨), which contains the walking radical (辵 or 辶), denoting movement or following. Several accounts report that Emperor Wen disliked the radical because it implied wandering or instability, and therefore omitted it to create the character Sui (隋).^[3] However, modern textual analysis notes that the characters Sui (隨) and Sui (隋) were often used interchangeably through the Northern and Southern dynasties into the Tang period, and during the Tang dynasty the preceding dynasty was frequently written with the walking radical as an official disparagement.^[1][3] Early Byzantine records also preserved a name for China derived from Central Asian Turkic contacts during the Northern Wei period, referring to the unified Sui realm as Taugast (Old Turkic Tabghach).^[4][5]

History

In 577, Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou conquered the Northern Qi, reunifying northern and southwestern China. However, his successor, Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou, lived extravagantly, indulged in wine and women, had five concurrent empresses, and abdicated after eight months to his young son Emperor Jing, assuming the title of retired emperor while neglecting state affairs.^[6][7] Yang Jian, whose daughter Yang Lihua was one of Xuan's empresses, served as regent to the child monarch after Emperor Xuan died on 8 June 580. Yang Jian gradually removed key Northern Zhou ministers from the capital and assumed command of the government as grand chancellor.^[6][7]

Senior regional commanders loyal to the Yuwen imperial house revolted against Yang Jian's ascendancy, led by Yuchi Jiong at Xiangzhou, Sima Xiaonan at Yunzhou, and Wang Qian at Yizhou. Yang Jian dispatched generals Wei Xiaokuan, Wang Yi, and Gao Jiong, who suppressed the insurrections in succession.^[6][8] Yang Jian also purged potential rivals within the Northern Zhou imperial lineage, executing 59 royal princes.^[9] On 4 March 581, Emperor Jing abdicated the throne to Yang Jian, ending Northern Zhou and establishing the Sui dynasty. Yang Jian took the throne as Emperor Wen, posthumously honored his father Yang Zhong as Emperor Wuyuan, and initially enfeoffed the deposed child emperor as Duke of Jie before having him put to death along with other close Northern Zhou royal relatives.^[8][10][11]

To prepare for the conquest of the southern Chen dynasty across the Yangtze River, Emperor Wen adopted Gao Jiong's strategy of economic disruption, sending small raiding forces during harvest periods to disrupt southern agricultural production and burning southern supply storehouses.^[6][8][12] In October 587, Emperor Wen abolished the puppet Western Liang dynasty, deposing Xiao Zong and annexing its territory as a forward operating base.^[8][12] In late 588, the Sui mobilized 518,000 land and naval troops divided into eight operational columns under the overall command of Prince Yang Guang, Prince Yang Jun, and general Yang Su, with Gao Jiong serving as chief strategist and Wang Shao as marshal.^{[6][8][13][14]}

Yang Su led the upper naval forces down the Yangtze from Badong, joining Liu Ren'en at Jingzhou to capture the defensive positions at Yanzhou near the Xiling Gorge. Yang Jun's army pinned down the Chen relief forces at Hankou, preventing them from reinforcing their capital. In the lower reaches, Sui shock forces under Han Qinhu, He Ruobi, and Yuwen Shu crossed the Yangtze while the Chen court was celebrating the Lunar New Year. On 10 February 589, Sui forces entered Jiankang (modern Nanjing) and captured Chen Shubao, the last ruler of Chen.^[8][14] The city of Jiankang was leveled to the ground, and its aristocracy was escorted north to the Sui capital. In September 590, Lady Xian of Lingnan submitted to Sui envoys, bringing the far southern commanderies under Sui imperial rule and ending more than 280 years of division since the Disaster of Yongjia.^[8][15]

The early phase of Emperor Wen's reign, known as the Kaihuang era (581–600), saw substantial administrative stability and economic expansion. Emperor Wen reduced taxes and labor duties, reclaimed farmland, promoted thrift across the empire, and built public granaries that stored tens of millions of bushels of grain.^[16][17] He also founded the new capital city of Daxing in 582, designed by the master architect Yuwen Kai. However, in his later years during the Renshou era (601–604), Emperor Wen became suspicious of his veteran generals and ministers, implementing severe penal codes and executing numerous meritorious officials.^[18][19][20]

A succession struggle developed between Emperor Wen's sons. The eldest son, Crown Prince Yang Yong, incurred the displeasure of both Emperor Wen and Empress Dugu Qieluo due to his luxurious lifestyle, excessive concubines, and the death of his official consort. The second son, Yang Guang (the Prince of Jin), cultivated an appearance of frugality and monogamy while conspiring with Yang Su to accuse Yang Yong of secret misconduct. In 600, Emperor Wen deposed Yang Yong and appointed Yang Guang as crown prince.^[21][22] In 602, the fourth son, Yang Xiu, was similarly deposed on fabricated charges. On 13 August 604, Emperor Wen died at Renshou Palace under disputed circumstances, with some accounts alleging that Yang Guang or his associate Zhang Heng murdered the bedridden emperor. Yang Guang ascended the throne as Emperor Yang on 21 August 604, immediately ordering the execution of Yang Yong and suppressing a revolt launched by his younger brother Yang Liang, the Prince of Han, in Bingzhou.^{[21][23][24][25]}

Emperor Yang accelerated major state construction projects, ordering the building of the Eastern Capital of Luoyang in 604, deploying up to two million laborers each month. He relocated the primary imperial seat there in 605 to better control the grain and wealth of the eastern and southern regions.^{[23][26][27][28]} He supervised the excavation of the Grand Canal network, linking the Yangtze and Huai river valleys with Luoyang and the northern border near modern Beijing. In foreign affairs, Emperor Yang dispatched military expeditions to subjugate the Tuyuhun in Qinghai in 608–609, secured the submission of the Western and Eastern Turkic khagans, conquered northern Vietnam, and launched diplomatic missions to the Western Regions and Japan.^{[29][30][31][32][33]}

Between 612 and 614, Emperor Yang launched three successive mass invasions against the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo. The 612 campaign mobilized more than 1.13 million combat troops, requiring thirty days merely to depart the staging base near Shanhaiguan and stretching over 1,000 li across the landscape. The invasion collapsed following the decisive defeat of the Sui forces at the Salsu River by the Korean general Eulji Mundeok, where only 2,700 out of a 305,000-man strike force survived to return across the Liao River.^{[34][35][36][37]} Subsequent campaigns in 613 and 614 also failed to achieve submission, bankrupting the imperial treasury and consuming large quantities of manpower.^[35][37]

The combination of forced labor, wartime requisitions, and devastating Yellow River floods in eastern China sparked rural rebellions starting in 611, when Wang Bo raised an insurrection at Mount Changbai in Shandong and composed the Song of Not Dying in Vain in Liaodong.^[38][39] Resistance escalated into open aristocratic revolt in 613 when Yang Su's son, Yang Xuangan, rebelled near Luoyang while Emperor Yang was campaigning in Korea.^[38][40] Soon, competing rebel groups established territorial regimes across China: the Wagang Army under Zhai Rang and Li Mi in Henan; Dou Jiande in Hebei; Du Fuwei and Fu Gongshi in the Jianghuai region; and Xiao Xian in the middle Yangtze.^[38][41]

In 616, Emperor Yang abandoned the northern capital regions and traveled south to Jiangdu (modern Yangzhou), intending to relocate permanently to Danyang (Nanjing). In 617, Li Yuan, the military commander of Taiyuan, launched a revolt, seized the capital Daxing, and enthroned Emperor Yang's grandson Yang You as Emperor Gong, nominally venerating Emperor Yang as retired emperor.^[38][41][42] On 11 April 618, military officers in Jiangdu led by Yuwen Huaji, Sima Dekan, and Pei Qiantong launched a coup, strangling Emperor Yang and murdering his direct male heirs. Yuwen Huaji installed Emperor Yang's nephew Yang Hao as emperor, before later killing him and declaring himself emperor of the Xu state.^[43][44][45]

Following news of Emperor Yang's assassination, on 12 June 618 Li Yuan compelled Yang You to abdicate in Chang'an, formally proclaiming the Tang dynasty as Emperor Gaozu.^[38][46] In Luoyang, Sui officials led by Wang Shichong enthroned Emperor Yang's other grandson, Yang Tong (the Prince of Yue), as emperor under the era title Huangtai. On 23 May 619, Wang Shichong deposed Yang Tong, proclaimed himself emperor of the Zheng state, and soon had Yang Tong poisoned, marking the complete extinction of the Sui court.^[38][41][46] In 620, the Eastern Turkic Chuluo Khagan sheltered Emperor Yang's grandson Yang Zhengdao and Empress Xiao, investing Yang Zhengdao as Prince of Sui with a residual court based in Dingxiang until Tang forces destroyed the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in 630.^[41]

Government and administration

Emperor Wen dismantled the archaic Six Offices system of Northern Zhou and established the Three Departments and Six Ministries system (Sansheng Liubu), which became the structural framework for subsequent imperial dynasties.^[47][48] The Three Departments divided imperial executive power: the Department of Inner History (Neishi Sheng) drafted imperial edicts and formulated policy; the Chancellery (Menxia Sheng) reviewed and checked imperial decrees, possessing the power to veto and return unworkable orders; and the Department of State Affairs (Shangshu Sheng) executed approved decrees through its administrative organs.^[48][49][50] The Chancellor of State Affairs presided over administrative meetings in the Zhengshitang alongside department heads, ensuring collective decision-making under the sovereign's supreme authority.^[50][51][52]

The Department of State Affairs directed the Six Ministries, each headed by a minister (Shangshu) and divided into four functional bureaus: the Ministry of Personnel (Libu), managing appointment, evaluation, and promotion of officials; the Ministry of Revenue (Duzhibu, later Minbu), overseeing census registration, taxation, and treasury funds; the Ministry of Rites (Libu), handling ceremonies, foreign envoys, and state sacrifices; the Ministry of War (Bingbu), supervising military appointments, weapon production, and defense logistics; the Ministry of Justice (Duguanbu, later Xingbu), administering judicial decrees, penal law, and prison labor; and the Ministry of Works (Gongbu), directing hydraulic works, public construction, and state workshops.^[48][53][54] Executive actions of these ministries were implemented by specialized operational bodies, consisting of the Nine Courts (Jiusi) and Five Directorates (Wujian), while central administrative oversight was maintained by the Censorate (Yushitai) and waterways by the Directorate of Waterways (Dushuitai).^[48][53][55]

At the local level, Emperor Wen streamlined the administrative hierarchy. Following memorials by Yang Shangxi and Su Wei in 583, the three-tiered system of province (zhou), commandery (jun), and county (xian) was replaced by a two-tiered zhou-xian structure, abolishing the intermediate commanderies and amalgamating smaller administrative divisions to cut redundant personnel.^[53][56] Emperor Yang later reversed the nomenclature, renaming zhou back to jun while retaining the two-tier structure, which encompassed 190 commanderies at its zenith.^[53][54] Because managing nearly two hundred commanderies directly proved unwieldy, Emperor Yang established nine regional supervisory circuits (Dao), including Jizhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Liangzhou, and Yongzhou, each inspected by an imperial circuit commissioner (Cishi).^[53][54][55]

Emperor Wen also overhauled local official recruitment under the Selection and Appointment System (Chuanxu zhi). All local officials ranked at or above the ninth civil rank were appointed directly by the Ministry of Personnel in the capital rather than by local notables, and their administrative records were assessed annually.^[53][57] To curb local corruption and gentry domination, prefectural and county sub-officials were rotated every three years, were barred from serving consecutive terms, and could not be appointed to their native districts.^[53][55] Counties were classified into four grades (superior, medium, medium-lower, and lower) according to population and strategic importance. Beneath the county level, administrative discipline was maintained through rural groupings: five households formed a bao, one hundred households formed a li headed by a lizheng responsible for tax gathering and land registration, and five li constituted a township (xiang).^[53][54][55]

To break the aristocratic stranglehold on bureaucratic office formerly entrenched by the Nine-Rank System, the Sui dynasty institutionalized the Imperial Examination System (Keju).^[47][48] Beginning in 587, Emperor Wen mandated that each prefecture recommend three talented scholars annually to sit for national civil examinations covering the Xiucai (cultivated talent) and Mingjing (understanding the classics) curricula.^[58][59] In 606, Emperor Yang established the Jinshi (presented scholar) degree, which tested candidates on policy essays on current affairs (shiwuce).^[58][59] Although the examinations admitted relatively few candidates compared to later dynasties, the establishment of merit-based written testing opened imperial offices to lesser gentry and formed the basis for administrative recruitment throughout later Chinese history.^[59][60][61]

Legal administration was codified through the promulgation of the Kaihuang Code. Commissioned by Emperor Wen in 581 under Gao Jiong and revised by Su Wei in 583, the code drew upon the Northern Qi Heqing Code, supplemented by the legal texts of Northern Zhou and Southern Liang.^[62][63][64] The Kaihuang Code reduced punitive severity, replacing ancient corporal mutilations like tattooing, nose-amputation, foot-severing, public decapitation display, and quartering with five standard punishments: death (by hanging or decapitation), exile, penal servitude, beating with heavy sticks, and beating with light canes, divided into twenty grades.^[62][64][65] It formally established the Ten Abominations (Shie), covering crimes of treason, rebellion, filial impiety, and severe familial discord, which were punished without pardon; this text served as the foundational archetype for the subsequent Tang Code.^[62][65][66]

Military organization

The Sui military was centered upon the Garrison Militia system (Fubing zhi), inherited from Western Wei and Northern Zhou.^[47][67] In 590, Emperor Wen decreed that military households (junhu), previously segregated as a hereditary military caste, be incorporated into civilian household registers (minhu).^[68][69] Soldiers received agricultural plots under the equal-field regulations and were exempt from personal household taxes and labor corvée in exchange for mandatory periodic training and guard duty in the imperial capitals. This reform integrated agriculture with defense, reducing state maintenance costs, broadening the imperial recruit pool, and allowing soldiers to live alongside their families during non-deployment months.^[68][69]

The central military administration initially consisted of Twelve Guards (Shi'er Wei), which Emperor Yang expanded in 607 into the Sixteen Guards or Sixteen Commands (Shiliu Wei).^[70][71] Twelve of these commands supervised the regional fubing militias and rotated them through capital defense duties, including the Left and Right Wing Guards, Courageous Cavalry Guards, Martial Guards, Camp Guards, Vanguard Guards, and Imperial Guards. The remaining four commands, the Left and Right Bodyguard Commands (Beishen Fu) and Gate Control Commands (Jianmen Fu), commanded dedicated imperial bodyguards and manned the entrances to the imperial palace complex without territorial militia responsibilities.^[67][72]

For territorial defense and regional command, Emperor Wen established Area Commands (Zongguan Fu), divided into three classes according to strategic significance. Four major senior Area Commands were initially positioned under imperial princes: Prince Yang Guang at Bingzhou guarding the northern approaches, Prince Yang Jun at Yangzhou overseeing the lower Yangtze, Prince Yang Xiu at Yizhou securing Sichuan, and general Wei Shikang at Jingzhou monitoring the central riverways.^[73][74] Nationally, between thirty and fifty area commands were distributed across northern, northeastern, western, and southeastern theaters to repulse nomad incursions and garrison mountain passes, a framework that directly preceded the military circuits (Dao) adopted by the Tang dynasty.^[73][74]

Economy and society

The Sui agrarian economy rested on the Equal-Field System (Juntian zhi), coupled with the Zuyongdiao tax structure. Under the system, arable land was formally distributed to adult males: inheritable permanent land (yongyetian) was granted for mulberry and orchard cultivation, while reclaimable grain land (lutian) was granted for subsistence farming and returned to the government upon the cultivator's death or retirement at age sixty.^[75][76][77] High-ranking officials and nobility received hereditary land quotas ranging up to 100 qing as well as public office land (gongxietian) and official salary land (zhitian) to fund their administrative expenses.^[76][77][78] In 605, Emperor Yang exempted women, household slaves, and servants from agricultural tax quotas, levying grain tax (zu) and fabric tax (diao) solely upon adult males (ding), while commuting physical corvée obligations into silk payments (yong).^[75][79][80]

To extract hidden agricultural labor monopolized by powerful magnate estates, Gao Jiong instituted the 'Great Search and Inspection' (Dasaomaoyue) and the 'Fixed Registry System' (Shujizhi).^[81][82][83] Local officials were required to conduct rigorous annual household audits comparing physical appearances against written registrations, compelling adult male cousins and distant relatives to register independent households.^[83] In 585 alone, this auditing uncovered 1.64 million unregistered individuals across the northern commanderies. A secondary inspection in 609 added another 640,000 newly affiliated subjects from the south, transferring hundreds of thousands of hidden dependents from private landlord patronage into tax-paying state freeholders.^[84]

As agricultural cultivation expanded from 19,404,167 qing in 589 to over 55,854,040 qing under Emperor Yang, national grain yields increased substantially.^[85][86] To regulate grain prices and buffer against famine, Emperor Wen built an extensive dual-storage network comprising Official Granaries (Guancang) and Charity Granaries (Yicang, or Shecang).^[87][88] Following proposals by Grand Minister of Revenue Zhangsun Ping in 585, rural charity granaries collected surplus harvest grain directly from farming villages to relieve local shortages. Meanwhile, monumental state granaries were erected along strategic transport hubs at Chang'an, Luoyang, Huazhou, Shanzhou, Luokou, and Huiluo, storing millions of bushels of grain alongside textile stockpiles that were reported capable of feeding the empire for fifty to sixty years.^[87][88][89]

However, these storage systems failed to provide relief in time during disasters. In his later years, Emperor Wen enforced harsh penalties against local officials who distributed official grain without prior imperial authorization, causing officials to refuse emergency grain disbursements during droughts and floods.^[90] Consequently, massive food stocks remained locked in state depots while surrounding peasant communities starved, transforming granaries like Luokou and Huiluo into primary tactical objectives for insurgent armies during the late Sui rebellions.^[40][91]

State-operated workshops led manufacturing developments in silk textiles, ceramics, and naval construction. Silk production flourished across Xiangzhou, Sichuan, and Jiangnan, producing specialized brocades and Jiming cloth.^[92][93][94] Ceramic techniques advanced through high-fire kiln operations, yielding early hard white porcelain specimens like the swan-necked flask unearthed at Anyang and Xi'an, alongside durable celadon wares.^[95][96] Shipbuilding reached unprecedented scales: Yang Su constructed towering 'Five-Teeth' (Wuya) warships featuring five tiered decks rising over one hundred feet, armed with six fifty-foot battering booms for crushing enemy vessels.^[9][95][96] Emperor Yang later commissioned an imperial fleet of thousands of luxury vessels for his voyages to Jiangdu, led by the multi-storied Dragon Boat (Longzhou) and accompanied by floating palaces that housed imperial concubines and court guards.^[95][96]

Commercial exchanges were revitalized following the reunification of regional markets and canal construction. Chang'an bustled with two major international markets, the Eastern Duhui Market and the Western Liren Market, which housed foreign merchant communities.^[97][98] Luoyang contained three extensive market complexes: Fengdu, Datong, and Tongyuan. The Tongyuan Market bordered the canal basin, with twenty entrance gates and berthing for up to ten thousand trading boats simultaneously.^[99][100] In 581, Emperor Wen standardized the currency by minting the new five-shu (Wuzhu) coin, setting a weight of four jin and two liang per one thousand coins, while establishing official minting furnaces in Jiangdu, Jiangxia, and Chengdu to eliminate debased currencies.^[99][100] In the final years of Emperor Yang, administrative collapse led to widespread private forging of light iron and copper alloy tokens, causing galloping price inflation and the collapse of the metallic monetary system.^[99][100]

Major construction projects

Because the old Han capital of Chang'an had suffered centuries of warfare and its water table had become contaminated by sewage, Emperor Wen decreed the construction of a new imperial capital in January 582.^{[101][102][103]} Directed by the master architect Yuwen Kai, the city was erected south of the Longshou Plateau and named Daxing City in honor of Emperor Wen's previous ducal title, reaching practical completion in March 583.^[104][105] Daxing was laid out on a monumental rectangular grid with rigorous east-west symmetry, incorporating an imperial palace city (Gongcheng) in the north, an imperial administrative city (Huangcheng) in the center, and 108 enclosed residential wards (Lifang) covering 88.8 percent of the total urban area, forming one of the largest planned metropolitan sites in world history.^{[106][107][108][109]}

The spatial topography of Daxing was organized according to the six ridges south of Longshou Plateau, aligned conceptually with the six lines of the Qian hexagram in the Book of Changes (I Ching).^[110][111] The palace city was positioned along the second ridge, symbolizing the dragon appearing in the field, while the administrative city occupied the third ridge to represent diligent official service. To neutralize the fifth ridge (representing the supreme imperial line unsuitable for ordinary residents), the state constructed the Buddhist Daxingshan Temple to the east and the Taoist Xuandu Abbey to the west in direct symmetrical opposition.^[110][112] The structural grid, broad central avenue (Zhuque Boulevard), and ward systems of Daxing subsequently provided urban architectural blueprints for the East Asian capitals of Heian-kyo and Heijo-kyo in Japan, as well as Longquanfu in Balhae.^[113]

In late 604, following the suppression of Prince Yang Liang's rebellion in the east, Emperor Yang ordered the construction of the Eastern Capital (Dongdu, or Dongjing) at Luoyang between the Luo and Yi rivers.^[26][114] Led by Yang Su and Yuwen Kai, the project mobilized up to two million laborers each month and was completed within ten months in 605.^[27][115] Unlike the symmetrical layout of Daxing, Luoyang's palace city (Ziweicheng) was situated in the northwestern quadrant due to the terrain of the Mangshan hills and the Luo River. The river cut directly through the urban core to facilitate grain shipments, while monumental granaries were installed at nearby Luokou and Huiluo to feed the metropolitan court.^[116][117]

The Sui Grand Canal unified China's primary river systems into an empire-wide inland waterway network extending over 2,700 kilometers, with Luoyang serving as its central transshipment hub.^[21][118] Emperor Wen initiated the project in 584 by constructing the Guangtong Canal, which directed the Wei River from Chang'an to Tongguan, and dredged the Shanyang Canal in 587 from Huai'an to Jiangdu on the Yangtze.^[119][120] In 605, Emperor Yang excavated the Tongji Canal (or Bian Canal), joining the Luo and Yellow rivers with the Huai River across Henan and Anhui. In 608, over one million men and women were drafted to dig the Yongji Canal northward from the Yellow River along the Wei and Qin rivers to Zhuozhou near modern Beijing, supplying northern military depots.^[119] Finally, in 610, the Jiangnan Canal was completed from Zhenjiang across Suzhou to Hangzhou, linking the agricultural surplus of the southern delta directly to the imperial centers.^[119][121]

The Sui emperors also rebuilt and extended the Great Wall across northern frontiers to protect frontier populations and vassal nomad confederations.^[122][123] Between 581 and 608, the court mobilized approximately two million laborers across seven major wall-building campaigns, constructing defensive walls and beacon bastions stretching from the Zi River in the east, through Shuofang and Lingwu, to Yugu in the west.^{[122][123][124]} To enhance frontier mobility and royal ceremonial pageantry, Emperor Yang also conscripted hundreds of thousands of corvée workers to cut an imperial paved highway (chidao) through the Taihang Mountains connecting Luoyang with Bingzhou.^[125][126]

Foreign relations

Sui external diplomacy pursued a tributary system under which border states acknowledged the Sui emperor as supreme suzerain, exchanged periodic tributary missions, and received trade privileges and titles in return.^[127][128] In the north, the Turkic Khaganate had exerted pressure on Northern Zhou and Northern Qi. When Ishbara Khagan invaded the northern frontiers with four hundred thousand troops in 582, Emperor Wen counterattacked along eight routes in 583, employing strategist Zhangsun Sheng to exploit personal rivalries among the Turkic royalty.^[27][129] Zhangsun Sheng's diplomatic maneuvers successfully fractured the khaganate into competing Eastern and Western Turkic confederations. In 599, the Eastern Turkic ruler Qimin Khagan surrendered to Sui protection, followed by Western Turkic ruler Chuluo Khagan in 611, neutralizing the northern threat for over a decade.^[27][129]

The Tuyuhun khaganate of the Qinghai and Hexi region, whose founder was of Xianbei origin, often raided Sui territory.^[31] In 608, Sui official Pei Ju incited the Gaoche to attack the Tuyuhun, and the Tuyuhun asked the Sui for military aid.^[31][32] Emperor Yang used this pretext to launch a full invasion in 609, routing the Tuyuhun forces, driving their khagan into exile, and annexing their territories to establish four new commanderies: Shanshan, Qiemo, Xihai, and Heyuan.^[29][31] That same year, Emperor Yang held a diplomatic gathering at Zhangye attended by monarchs and envoys from twenty-seven kingdoms of the Western Regions, including King Qu Boya of Gaochang, opening direct commercial access to Central Asia, Sasanian Persia, and the Byzantine Empire.^{[30][32][130]}

In the south, Sui authority incorporated northern Vietnam in 602 when general Liu Fang led twenty-seven military divisions into Jiaozhou, forcing the Early Ly dynasty king Ly Phat Tu to surrender.^{[131][132][133]} In 605, Emperor Yang ordered Liu Fang to lead an expedition into the central Vietnamese kingdom of Champa (Linyi). Although King Fan Fanzhi deployed war elephants against the invaders, the Sui troops lured the elephant units into concealed pit-traps, routing them with dense crossbow fire.^{[131][134][135]} The Sui forces occupied and plundered the Cham capital, but were forced to withdraw after thousands of northern Chinese soldiers, including general Liu Fang, succumbed to malaria and tropical diseases on their march back.^{[131][134][135][136]}

Further maritime missions were sent to Southeast Asia in 607–608 under Chang Jun and Wang Junzheng, who sailed to the Kingdom of Chitu on the Malay Peninsula, exchanging five thousand bolts of silk and escorting prince Nayejia back to the Sui court for formal audience.^[137] In Northeast Asia, the southern Korean kingdoms of Baekje and Silla maintained regular tributary contact with Sui, using Chinese recognition to balance against Goguryeo.^{[138][139][140][141]} To the east, Prince Shotoku of Asuka-period Japan sent multiple embassies to Sui, including the 607 mission led by Ono no Imoko; a diplomatic dispute arose when the Japanese sovereign addressed the Sui emperor as the 'Son of Heaven where the sun sets,' though bilateral ties were normalized in 608 when Emperor Yang dispatched an envoy, Pei Shiqing, on a return mission to Japan.^{[64][142][143]}

Between 607 and 608, Emperor Yang dispatched military officer Zhu Kuan to the eastern island realm of Liuqiu (referring either to Taiwan or the Ryukyu Islands) to persuade its ruler to acknowledge Sui suzerainty.^[144][145] When Liuqiu refused, Emperor Yang sent an expedition of ten thousand soldiers under Chen Leng and Zhang Zhenzhou in 610. The Sui forces breached the native fortifications, killed the island king Huansi Keladou, captured several thousand inhabitants as prisoners, and conducted coastal trade before withdrawing to the mainland.^{[144][145][146][147]}

Culture and thought

Early Sui cultural policy sought to reconcile the disparate traditions of the Northern and Southern dynasties, promoting the Harmonization of the Three Teachings (Sanjiao): Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.^[148][149] The prominent Confucian philosopher Wang Tong (posthumously titled Wenzhongzi) taught at the close of the dynasty, advocating that rulers prioritize moral virtue before criminal punishment and arguing that Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism should coexist complementarily rather than antagonistically.^[150][151] His teachings, compiled in the Zhongshuo (Explanation of the Mean), influenced prominent early Tang statesmen such as Wei Zheng and later Neo-Confucian philosophers of the Song dynasty.^[150][152]

Confucian statecraft was restored to train imperial administrators, though its standing fluctuated. While early Kaihuang policies encouraged local schooling across the eastern provinces, Emperor Wen judged in his later years that the schools were numerous but of poor quality, closing all prefectural academies in 601 and preserving only the Guozixue in the capital with an enrollment cap of seventy students.^{[153][154][155][156]} Prominent scholars Liu Chuo and Liu Xuan achieved renown for their classical erudition, though Liu Xuan was later implicated in forging ancient historical texts to claim state rewards.^[154][156] Although Emperor Yang revived local Confucian academies upon his accession, the disenfranchisement of scholars under Emperor Wen drove numerous literati to join rebel factions at the end of the dynasty.^[154][156]

Buddhism flourished as a state-sponsored religion, enjoying close personal patronage from the imperial family.^[157][158] Emperor Wen and Empress Dugu promoted the faith as a spiritual unifier across formerly divided ethnic communities, with Emperor Wen presenting himself as a Cakravartin monarch dedicated to defending the dharma.^{[157][158][159]} In 601, Emperor Wen ordered the nationwide distribution of Buddhist relics and the construction of eighty-three reliquary stupas, centered at Daxingshan Temple.^{[159][160][161]} The Sui state constructed more than 5,000 temples and stupas, sponsored the casting of tens of thousands of gilt-bronze statues, and established imperial translation bureaus (Fanqinguan) that rendered thousands of Sanskrit sutras into Chinese.^[160][162] Major indigenous schools solidified during this period, most notably the Tiantai school founded by Zhiyi, who expounded the Lotus Sutra and the meditation manual Mohe Zhiguan, alongside the Sanlun and Sanjie schools.^{[163][164][165][166]}

Taoism also received official court recognition, with the Northern Louguan school favored by Emperor Wen and the Southern Shangqing (Maoshan) school promoted by Emperor Yang.^{[161][167][168]} Taoist masters like Zhang Bin, Jiao Zishun, and Wang Yuanzhi actively assisted the court with astrological divination and dynastic legitimation, while Su Yuanlang advanced internal alchemy (neidan) theory by emphasizing physiological cultivation alongside traditional external alchemy (waidan).^{[169][170][171][172]} Concurrently, Zoroastrianism (Xianjiao) spread through Sogdian merchant networks, and the Sui court formally instituted the official post of Sabao to administer foreign Zoroastrian religious communities.^[173][174]

Literary and historical production balanced northern plainness with southern stylistic elegance. In 584, Emperor Wen issued edicts condemning ornate southern prose and demanding straightforward composition, though Emperor Yang strongly preferred southern verse, authoring court poetry such as Jiangdu Gongyuedi.^{[175][176][177][178]} In historiography, Emperor Wen prohibited private individuals from compiling national histories in 593, establishing the state monopoly over official dynastic history bureaus.^{[175][179][180]} Linguistic scholarship reached a major milestone in 601 when Lu Fayan and associates published the Qieyun, a five-volume rime dictionary standardizing Chinese character pronunciation and Fanqie readings that preserved the Middle Chinese phonological system for subsequent generations.^[181]

In painting and calligraphy, the Sui era achieved significant technical maturity. The painter Zhan Ziqian developed independent landscape painting (shanshui), exemplified by the surviving work Strolling About in Spring (Youchun Tu), which employed fine contour lines, mineral pigments, and spatial perspective that resolved the archaic disproportion between human figures and background mountains.^[182][183] Khotanese artist Weichi Bazhina introduced Western shading methods (the concave-convex technique), while master calligraphers like Zhiyong, Ding Daohu, and Shi Ling established precise regular-script prototypes captured on stone steles like the Longzangsi and Qifasi inscriptions.^{[182][184][185][186]}

Court musical arts incorporated foreign and ethnic melodies. Following the southern conquest, the Sui state established the Qingshang Bureau and later instituted Nine Musical Departments (Jiubu Yue), including traditional Han music alongside musical repertoires from Xiliang, Kucha, Kashgar, Samarkand, Bukhara, India, and Goguryeo.^[187] Central Asian instruments such as the crooked-neck pipa, vertical harp (konghou), and jie drum gained wide prominence, and musical theorists recognized the seven-tone scale over the ancient five-tone system.^[188] Musicologists Wan Baochang and He Tuo debated court acoustic theory, with He Tuo persuading Emperor Wen to adopt the Yellow Bell standard (Huangzhong) for official imperial rites.^[189][190]

Science and technology

Sui scientific institutions integrated northern and southern knowledge across astronomy, mathematics, cartography, and medicine. The Imperial Academy maintained a dedicated Department of Mathematics (Suanxue) to train technical specialists in traditional computational methods.^[191][192] In 600, astronomer Liu Chuo calculated the rate of axial precession at one degree every 76 years, closely approaching the modern astronomical value of 71.6 years.^[193][194] In 604, Liu Chuo developed the Huangji Calendar, which introduced unequal solar motion calculations and pioneered equal-interval quadratic interpolation formulas to predict lunar and solar eclipses with precision.^[193][194]

Stellar cartography was systematized following the conquest of Chen, when southern astronomical globes and manuscripts were brought to Chang'an. Master astronomer Danyuanzi composed the Step into the Heavens Song (Bu Tian Ge), setting the coordinates and groupings of all Chinese constellations into seven-character verse that facilitated wide memorization.^[195] Geographic documentation advanced through state-mandated regional gazetteers (tujing), resulting in Pei Ju's illustrated Record of the Western Regions (Xiyu Tu Ji) in 609, which mapped three overland continental silk routes from Dunhuang through Central Asia to the Mediterranean Sea.^{[194][196][197]}

In architecture, Li Chun directed the construction of the Anji Bridge over the Xiao River in Zhao County, Hebei, in 610.^[198][199] Measuring 50.8 meters in total length, the structure represents the world's oldest fully intact open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge; its four auxiliary spandrel arches reduced total bridge weight by one-fifth and allowed destructive floodwaters to pass through harmlessly.^[199][200] Architect Yuwen Kai designed a mobile imperial pavilion (Guanfeng Xingdian) mounted on wheels that could be rapidly assembled into an audience hall seating several hundred guests, while engineer He Chou built the mobile Six-Harmonies Siege City (Liuhe Cheng) and perfected techniques using green porcelain glazes to fabricate glass imitations indistinguishable from natural crystal.^[201]

State medicine was administered by the Imperial Medical Bureau (Taiyishu), which was organized into distinct faculties of general medicine, acupuncture, massage therapy, and incantations, with clinical practice divided into five specialties: internal therapy, pediatrics, surgery, sensory-dental disorders, and cupping.^[202][203] The court physician Chao Yuanfang authored the Treatise on the Causes and Symptoms of All Diseases (Zhubing Yuanhou Lun) in 610, compiling the earliest Chinese medical text systematically categorizing disease etiologies, symptom progressions, and surgical techniques, including surgical bowel anastomosis for treating open abdominal trauma.^[204] Under imperial commission, the medical bureau also assembled the Four Seas Prescriptions (Sihai Leiju Fang) in 2,600 volumes, integrating translated pharmaceutical texts from India and Central Asia into the Chinese pharmacopeia.^{[193][202][203]}

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17. 《資治通鑑·仁壽四年》：「愛養百姓，勸課農桑，輕徭薄賦。其自奉養，務為儉素，乘輿御物，故弊者隨令補用；自非享宴，所食不過一肉；後宮皆服浣濯之衣。天下化之，開皇、仁壽之間，丈夫率衣絹布，不服綾綺，裝帶不過銅鐵骨角，無金玉之飾。故衣食滋殖，倉庫盈溢。」
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19. 《隋書•高祖紀》：「稽其亂亡之兆，起自高祖，成於煬帝，所由來遠矣」
20. 《隋書·刑法志》：「盜一錢以上棄市，三人共盜一瓜均死，事發即時行決」
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30. 《隋書•煬帝紀》：「丙辰，上禦觀風行殿，盛陳文物，奏九部樂，設魚龍蔓延，宴高昌王、吐屯設於殿上，以寵異之。其蠻夷陪列者三十餘國。戊午，大赦天下。」
31. 《隋書·煬帝紀》：「壬子，高昌王麹伯雅來朝，伊吾吐屯設等獻西域數千里之地。上大悅。癸醜，置西海、河源、鄯善、且末等四郡。」
32. 《隋書·煬帝紀》：「丙辰，上御觀風行殿，盛陳文物，奏九部樂，設魚龍蔓延，宴高昌王、吐屯設於殿上，以寵異之。其蠻夷陪列者三十餘國。戊午，大赦天下。」
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39. 《全隋詩· 謠辭·大業長白山謠》：《無向遼東浪死歌》：「長白山頭知世郎，純著紅羅錦背襠，橫槊侵天半，輪刀耀日光，上山吃獐鹿，下山食牛羊。忽聞官軍至，提劍向前蕩。譬如遼東豕，斬頭何所傷」
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56. 《隋書·楊尚希傳》：「尚希時見天下州郡過多，上表曰：『自秦並天下，罷侯置守，漢、魏及晉，邦邑屢改。竊見當今郡縣，倍多於古，或地無百里，數縣並置，或戶不滿千，二郡分領。具僚以眾，資費日多；吏卒人倍，租調歲減。清幹良才，百分無一，動須數萬，如何可覓？所謂民少官多，十羊九牧......今存要去閑，並小為大，國家則不虧粟帛，選舉則易得賢才。』
57. 殿最即考績之優劣，詳見《唐六典·卷二·考功郎中員外郎》、《新唐書·百官志》
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60. 宮崎市定『大唐帝国』中公文庫。
61. Hucker, Charles (1987), A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, p. 27
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63. 《隋書·刑法志》：「又勑蘇威、牛弘等，更定新律。除死罪八十一條，流罪一百五十四條，徒杖等千餘條，定留唯五百條。凡十二卷。一曰名例，二曰衞禁，三曰職制，四曰戶婚，五曰廐庫，六曰擅興，七曰賊盜，八曰鬬訟，九曰詐偽，十曰雜律，十一曰捕亡，十二曰斷獄。自是刑網簡要，疎而不失。」
64. 布目潮渢・栗原益男『隋唐帝国』講談社学術文庫。
65. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第二章 〈臻於成熟的法律制度〉，69頁
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75. 復旦大學（1982年）：《中國古代經濟簡史》第四章〈封建社會北朝隋唐（前期）的經濟〉，第100頁。
76. 《隋書·王誼傳》：「太常卿蘇威立議，以為戶口滋多，民田不贍，欲減功臣之地以給民。誼奏曰：『百官者，曆世勳賢，方蒙爵土，一旦削之，未見其可。如臣所慮，正恐朝臣功德不建』」。
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78. Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1996). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge University Press. pp. 92–93. ISBN 9780521475907
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80. 王小甫（2008年）:《隋唐五代史：世界帝國·開明開放》第一章〈隋·統一國家的再建〉，第三節〈隋代經濟的發展〉，第19頁。
81. 《通典》卷七：「其時承西魏喪亂，周齊分據，暴君慢吏，賦重役勤，人不堪命，多依豪室，禁網隳紊，奸偽尤滋。高熲睹流冗之病，建輸籍之法。於是定其名，輕其數，使人知為浮客，被強家收太半之賦，為編甿奉公上，蒙輕減之征。」
82. 《通典·食貨七》：「其時承西魏喪亂，周齊分據，暴君慢吏，賦重役勤，人不堪命，多依豪室，禁網隳紊，奸偽尤滋。高熲睹流冗之病，建輸籍之法。於是定其名，輕其數，使人知為浮客，被強家收太半之賦，為編甿奉公上，蒙輕減之征。」
83. 《隋書·食貨志》：「高熲又以人間課輸，雖有定分，年常征納，除注恆多，長吏肆情，文帳出沒，複無定簿，難以推校，乃為輸籍定樣，請遍下諸州。每年正月五日，縣令巡人，各隨便近，五黨三黨，共為一團，依樣定戶上下。帝從之。自是奸無所容矣。」
84. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代時期 第一章 南北統一社會繁榮時期——隋〉，第二節 南北統一後的經濟狀況，387頁。
85. 梁方仲 《中国历代户口、田地、田赋统计》，上海人民出版社，第6页。
86. 梁方仲 《中國歷代戶口、田地、田賦統計》，上海人民出版社，第6頁。
87. 《通典•食貨七》說：「隋氏西京太倉，東京含嘉倉、洛口倉，華州永豐倉，陝州太原倉，儲米粟多者千萬石，少者不減數百萬石。天下義倉，又皆充滿。京都及并州庫布帛各數千萬。而錫賚勛庸，並出豐厚，亦魏晉以降之未有。」
88. 《通典·食貨七》說：「隋氏西京太倉，東京含嘉倉、洛口倉，華州永豐倉，陝州太原倉，儲米粟多者千萬石，少者不減數百萬石。天下義倉，又皆充滿。京都及並州庫布帛各數千萬。而錫賚勛庸，並出豐厚，亦魏晉以降之未有。」
89. 《貞觀政要•辯興亡》：「記天下儲積，得供五六十年」
90. 《貞觀政要•辨興亡》：「隋開皇十四年大旱，人多饑乏。是時倉庫盈溢，竟不許賑給，乃令百姓逐糧」；《隋書•食貨志》：「是時百姓廢業，屯集城堡，無以自給。然所在倉庫，猶大充牣，吏皆懼法，莫肯賑救，由是益困。」
91. 礪波護《隋的貌閱與唐初食實封》（中文翻譯版），收錄於《日本學者研究中國史論著選譯》第四卷「六朝隋唐」，北京中華書局1992年版，第342頁。
92. 《隋書·地理志上》：「人多工巧，綾錦雕鏤之妙，殆侔於上國。」
93. 《隋书·地理志》中记载：「豫章之俗，颇同吴中，一年四五熟，勤于纺绩，亦有夜浣纱而旦成布者，俗呼鸡鸣布。」
94. 《隋書·地理志》：「豫章之俗，頗同吳中，一年四五熟，勤於紡績，亦有夜浣紗而旦成布者，俗呼雞鳴布。」
95. 復旦大學（1982年）：《中國古代經濟簡史》第四章〈封建社會北朝隋唐（前期）的經濟〉，第105頁。
96. 復旦大學（1982年）：《中國古代經濟簡史》第四章〈封建社會北朝隋唐（前期）的經濟〉，第三节 〈北朝隋唐（前期）的手工业〉，第106頁-第108頁。
97. 《隋書•地理志》：「俗具五方，人物混淆，華戎雜錯。去農從商，爭朝夕之利；游手為事，競錐刀之末」
98. 《隋書·地理志》：「俗具五方，人物混淆，華戎雜錯。去農從商，爭朝夕之利；遊手為事，競錐刀之末」
99. 復旦大學（1982年）：《中國古代經濟簡史》第四章〈封建社會北朝隋唐（前期）的經濟〉，第113頁。
100. 復旦大學（1982年）：《中國古代經濟簡史》第四章〈封建社會北朝隋唐（前期）的經濟〉，第113頁-第114頁。
101. 《太平御览·卷一五六》：「帝以长安故城，汉来旧邑，宫宇蠹朽，谋欲迁都。」
102. 《太平御覽·卷一五六》：「帝以長安故城，漢來舊邑，宮宇蠹朽，謀欲遷都。」
103. 《隋書·高祖紀》：「龍首山川原秀麗，卉物滋阜，卜食相土，宜建都邑，定鼎之基永固，無窮之業在斯。」
104. 《太平御览·卷一五六》：「隋文初封大兴公，及登极，县门园池多取其名。」
105. 《太平御覽·卷一五六》：「隋文初封大興公，及登極，縣門園池多取其名。」
106. Matt T. Rosenberg. "Largest Cities Through History". About.com. Bản gốc lưu trữ ngày 18 tháng 8 năm 2016. Truy cập ngày 29 tháng 6 năm 2008.
107. 《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第七章建築藝術的輝煌成就，497頁
108. 高明士（2006年）:《隋唐五代史》第二章〈隋朝的統一與建設〉，第三節〈隋代的建設：都城與運河〉，第60頁。
109. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第七章〈建築藝術的輝煌成就〉，497頁。
110. 辛德勇，《隋大興城坊考稿 Lưu trữ ngày 4 tháng 8 năm 2014 tại Wayback Machine》，北京大学中国古代史研究中心
111. 《雍錄·卷三·龍首原六坡（玄都觀，裴度宅附）》：「南北盡郭有六條高坡，象乾卦六爻。故於九二置宮殿以當帝王之居（即隋之大興宮、唐之太極宮）。九三立百司以應君子之數（即朱雀門內百司庶府皆是）。九五貴位，不欲常人居之，故置玄都觀及興善寺以鎮其地。......符《易象，乾卦》六爻。」
112. 辛德勇，《隋大興城坊考稿》，北京大學中國古代史研究中心
113. 李偉傳，《中華文化史》，第十二章〈唐朝〉，第423頁。
114. 《隋書·炀帝紀》「今者漢王諒悖逆，毒被山東，遂使州縣或淪非所。此由關河懸遠，兵不赴急，加以并州移戶復在河南。周遷殷人，意在於此。況復南服遐遠，東夏殷大，因機順動，今也其時」
115. 中国建筑工业出版社，《中国古代建筑史》第二卷，傅熹年主编，第三章<隋唐五代建筑>，第349页
116. 中国建筑工业出版社，《中国古代建筑史》第二卷，傅熹年主编，第三章<隋唐五代建筑>，第350页
117. 中国建筑工业出版社，《中国古代建筑史》第二卷，傅熹年主编，第三章<隋唐五代建筑>，第356至357页
118. 張傳璽等人著，《簡明中國古代史》，第六章〈隋唐五代〉
119. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代時期 第一章 南北統一社會繁榮時期——隋〉，第二节 南北统一后的经济状况，389頁。
120. 傅樂成（1993年）:《中國通史 隋唐五代史》第一章〈隋的建立與統一〉，第23頁。
121. Lewis 2009 ↓, s. 254. (Mark Edward Lewis: China Between Empires. The Northern and Southern Dynasties. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009. ISBN 0-674-02605-5.)
122. 《隋書·煬帝紀》：「發丁男百餘萬築長城，西距榆林，東至紫河，二旬而罷，綿亙千里。」
123. （开皇元年）时发稽胡筑长城，……月余皆至，并赴长城之役……乃与故齐营州刺史高宝宁合兵为寇。隋主患之，敕缘边修保障，峻长城。《资治通鉴·卷第一百七十五》 （开皇五年）隋主使司农少卿崔仲方发丁三万，于朔方，灵武筑长城，东距河，西至绥州，绵历七百里，以遏胡寇……（开皇六年）复令崔仲方发丁十五万。于朔方以东，缘边险要，筑数十城……（开皇七年）发丁男十万余人修长城，二旬而罢。《资治通鉴·卷第一百七十六》 （大业三年）发丁男百余万筑长城，西距榆林，东至紫河，一旬而罢，死者十五六……（大业四年）秋七月辛巳，发丁男二十余万筑长城，自榆谷而东。《隋书·本纪第三》
124. （大业三年）发丁男百余万筑长城，西距榆林，东至紫河，一旬而罢，死者十五六……（大业四年）秋七月辛巳，发丁男二十余万筑长城，自榆谷而东。《隋书·本纪第三》
125. 《資治通鑑•卷第一百八十•隋紀四》：「戊子，車駕頓榆林郡。帝欲出塞耀兵，逕突厥中‧‧‧‧晟曰：「天子行幸所在，諸侯躬自灑掃，耕除御路，以表至敬之心；今牙內蕪穢，謂是留香草耳！」啟民乃悟‧‧‧‧於是發榆林北境，至其牙，東達於薊，長三千里，廣百步，舉國就役，開為御道。帝聞晟策，益嘉之。」
126. 《資治通鑑·隋紀四》：「戊子，車駕頓榆林郡。帝欲出塞耀兵，逕突厥中......晟曰：「天子行幸所在，諸侯躬自灑掃，耕除御路，以表至敬之心；今牙內蕪穢，謂是留香草耳！」啟民乃悟......於是發榆林北境，至其牙，東達於薊，長三千里，廣百步，舉國就役，開為御道。帝聞晟策，益嘉之。」
127. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代时期 第一章 南北统一社会繁荣时期——隋〉，第一节 巩固国家统一的各种措施，对待敌国方面，384頁。
128. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代時期 第一章 南北統一社會繁榮時期——隋〉，第一節 鞏固國家統一的各種措施，對待敵國方面，384頁。
129. 駒田『新十八史略4』、P264
130. Yule (1915), pp 29-31.
131. Ebrey, Patricia; Walthall, Ann; Palais, James (2006). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 90. ISBN 0-618-13384-4.
132. Việt Nam sử lược, chương IV: nhà Tiền Lý
133. 《大越史記全書·外紀卷之三》：「帝遣其兄子代權㨿龍編城，別帥李普鼎㨿嗚鳶城，時帝都峯州。隋楊素薦瓜州刺史長安劉方有將帥之畧。隋帝詔以爲交州道行軍縂管，統二十七營來侵。方軍令嚴肅，有犯必斬。然性仁愛士卒，有疾病者，親臨撫養士，卒亦以此懷其德而畏其威。至都隆嶺遇草賊，擊破之。進軍，臨帝營，先諭以禍福。帝懼，請降，北歸，薨。」
134. Việt Nam sử lược Chương V: Bắc thuộc lần thứ ba
135. 《大越史記全書·外紀卷之四》：「乙丑隋煬帝廣大業元年春正月，劉方新平我土，隋群臣有言林邑多奇寶者。隋帝乃授方驩州道行軍總管，經畧林邑。方遣欽州刺史寗長真等，以步騎萬餘出越裳。方親率大將軍張愻蘇困切等，以舟師出比境漢漢縣屬，日南郡，隋置比境郡。是月軍至海口。三月，林邑王梵志遣兵守險，劉方擊走之。師度闍黎江。林邑兵乘巨象四靣而至，方戰不利，乃多掘小坑，草覆其上，以兵挑之，既戰佯北。林邑人逐之，象多陷坑顛躓，轉將驚駭，軍遂亂。方以弩射象，卻走躁其陣。因以銳師繼之。林邑大敗，俘馘萬計。方進追之，屢戰皆捷，過馬援銅柱南，八日至其國都。夏四月，梵志棄城走入海。方入城獲廟主十八，皆鑄金為之有國十八葉也，刻石紀功而還。士卒腫足，死者十四五。方亦得疾死於道。」
136. Coedès, George. Walter F. Vella. The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (en anglès). Traducció: Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press, 1968, p. 70-71. ISBN 978-0-824-80368-1.
137. 《隋書 卷八十二 列傳第四十七 赤土》：「煬帝即位，募能通絕域者。大業三年，屯田主事常駿、虞部主事王君政等請使赤土。帝大悅，賜駿等帛各百匹，時服一襲而遣。齎物五千段，以賜赤土王。」
138. 《隋書•東夷傳•百濟》：「開皇初，其王餘昌遣使貢方物，拜昌為上開府、帶方郡公、百濟王。」
139. 《隋書•東夷傳•新羅》：「開皇十四年，遣使貢方物．高祖拜真平為上開府、樂浪郡公、新羅王。」
140. 《隋書·東夷傳》：「開皇初，其王餘昌遣使貢方物，拜昌為上開府、帶方郡公、百濟王。」
141. 《隋書·東夷傳》：「開皇十四年，遣使貢方物．高祖拜真平為上開府、樂浪郡公、新羅王。」
142. 《資治通鑑•第一百八十一卷》：「大業三年，其王多利思比孤遣使朝貢‧‧‧‧其國書曰『日出處天子致書日沒處天子無恙』云云。帝覽之不悅，謂鴻臚卿曰：「蠻夷書有無禮者，勿復以聞。」
143. 《資治通鑑·大業三年》：「大業三年，其王多利思比孤遣使朝貢......其國書曰『日出處天子致書日沒處天子無恙』云云。帝覽之不悅，謂鴻臚卿曰：「蠻夷書有無禮者，勿復以聞。」
144. 《隋書•陳稜傳》：「流求人初見船艦，以為商旅，往往詣軍中貿易。」
145. 《隋書·列傳·陳稜》：「流求人初見船艦，以為商旅，往往詣軍中貿易。」
146. 米慶余《琉球歷史研究》第一章第二節，天津人民出版社1998年版，第9至15頁。
147. 王小甫（2008年）:《隋唐五代史：世界帝國·開明開放》第十章〈隋唐五代的周邊諸族〉，第四節〈東北諸族〉，第350頁－第352頁。
148. 《中國文明史 隋唐五代史》第十三章 發達的多元宗教，917頁
149. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第十三章 〈發達的多元宗教〉，第一節〈三教並獎政策與三教並習風氣〉，第917頁－第929頁。
150. 《文中子中說•事君篇》：「古之為政者，先德而後刑，故其人悅以恕；今之為政者，任刑而棄德，故其人怨以詐。」
151. 《文中子中說•問易篇》：「子讀《洪範讜議》。曰：『三教於是乎可一矣。』程元、魏徵進曰：『何謂也？』子曰：『使民不倦。』」
152. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第十二章〈學術思想的多元與匯合趨勢的出現〉，第二節〈王通和他的中說〉，第858頁－第860頁。
153. 《隋書 卷七十五 列傳第四十 儒林》：「於是超擢奇秀，厚賞諸儒，京邑達乎四方，皆啟黌校‧‧‧中州儒雅之盛，自漢、魏以來，一時而已。」
154. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代时期 第一章 南北统一社会繁荣时期——隋〉，第五节 隋朝的文化，419頁。
155. 《隋書·儒林傳》：「於是超擢奇秀，厚賞諸儒，京邑達乎四方，皆啟黌校···中州儒雅之盛，自漢、魏以來，一時而已。」
156. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代時期 第一章 南北統一社會繁榮時期——隋〉，第五節 隋朝的文化，419頁。
157. 《续高僧传》卷第二十六：「帝后果自山东入为天子，重兴佛法，皆如尼言。及登祚后，每顾群臣，追念阿阇梨以为口实。又云：我兴由佛法。」
158. 《續高僧傳》卷第二十六：「帝后果自山東入為天子，重興佛法，皆如尼言。及登祚後，每顧群臣，追念阿闍梨以為口實。又云：我興由佛法。」
159. Ebrey, Patricia; Walthall, Ann; Palais, James (2006). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 0-618-13384-4.
160. 《中國文明史•隋唐五代史》第十三章 發達的多元宗教，946頁
161. 江增慶，《中國通史綱要》〈第四篇第一章 隋唐〉， 第十七節 隋唐之宗教，297頁。
162. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第十三章 〈發達的多元宗教〉，第三節〈佛教的繁榮與衰弱〉，第945頁－第966頁。
163. 《中國文明史•隋唐五代史》第十二章 學術思想的多元與匯合趨勢的出現，872頁
164. 《中國文明史 隋唐五代史》第十三章 發達的多元宗教，956頁
165. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第十二章〈學術思想的多元與匯合趨勢的出現〉，第四節〈佛學思想的昌盛繁榮〉，第872頁－第880頁。
166. 《續高僧傳》卷第十七《曇崇傳》
167. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty: His Life, Times, and Legacy. SUNY Press. 2012. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-7914-8268-1.
168. 《集古今佛道論衡·卷乙》：「乃至大漸，至於道觀羈縻而已。崇建功德佛門隆盛。」
169. 《隋書 律曆志》：「時高祖作方行禪代之事，欲以符命曜於天下。道士張賓揣知上意，自云玄相，洞曉星曆，因盛言有代謝之徵，又稱上表非人臣相。由是大被知遇，恒在幕府。」
170. 《北史•卷第八十八•列傳第七十六隱逸》：「時有建安宋玉泉、會稽孔道茂、丹陽王遠知等，亦行辟穀道，以松水自給，皆為煬帝所重。」
171. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第十三章 〈發達的多元宗教〉，第四節〈道教的隆盛〉，第999頁－第1014頁。
172. 《北史·隱逸傳》：「時有建安宋玉泉、會稽孔道茂、丹陽王遠知等，亦行辟穀道，以松水自給，皆為煬帝所重。」
173. 中国的祆教研究（1923-2000）
174. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第十三章 〈發達的多元宗教〉，第五節〈西來新宗教的流行〉，第1023頁－第1024頁。
175. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代时期 第一章 南北统一社会繁荣时期——隋〉，第五节 隋朝的文化，418頁。
176. 《資治通鑑•卷第一百七十六》：「隋主不喜詞華，詔天下公私文翰並宜實錄。泗州刺史司馬幼之，文表華艷，付所司治罪。」
177. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代時期 第一章 南北統一社會繁榮時期——隋〉，第五節 隋朝的文化，418頁。
178. 《資治通鑑·至德二年》：「隋主不喜詞華，詔天下公私文翰並宜實錄。泗州刺史司馬幼之，文表華艷，付所司治罪。」
179. 〈隋書·高祖紀下〉：「五月癸亥，詔人間有撰集國史、臧否人物者，皆令禁絕。」
180. 謝保成：《隋唐五代史學》，廈門大學出版社，1995年，15頁。
181. 周祖謨，《唐五代韻書集成》，中華書局。
182. 柳美景著，《南宋以前中國繪畫線條之研究》，中國文化大學藝術研究所碩士論文，第101頁。
183. 釋彥悰著，《後畫錄》，第五頁
184. 《历代名画记》：「时人以跋质那为大尉迟，乙僧为小尉迟」
185. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第十七章 〈古代美術的盛世〉，第一節〈繪畫藝術的新高峰〉，第1304頁－第1306頁。
186. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第十七章 〈古代美術的盛世〉，第三節〈集大成的書法藝術〉，第1376頁－第1379頁。
187. 《中國文化史》第二章 魏晉隋唐時代文化的發展，第64頁。
188. 《隋書•音樂志》：「先是周武帝時，有龜茲人曰蘇祗婆，從突厥皇后入國，善胡琵琶。聽其所奏，一均之中間有七聲。因而問之，答云：『父在西域，稱為知音。代相傳習，調有七種。』」
189. 《隋書•音樂志》：「是時競為異議，各立朋黨，是非之理，紛然淆亂。或欲令各修造，待成，擇其善者而從之。」
190. 《隋書•音樂志》：「俄而柱國、沛公鄭譯奏上，請更修正。於是詔太常卿牛弘、國子祭酒辛彥之、國子博士何妥等議正樂‧‧‧‧妥恐樂成，善惡易見，乃請高祖張樂試之。遂先說曰：「黃鐘者，以象人君之德。」及奏黃鐘之調，高祖曰：「滔滔和雅，甚與我心會。」妥因陳用黃鐘一宮，不假餘律，高祖大悅，班賜妥等修樂者。自是譯等議寢」
191. 《隋書•百官志》：「國子寺元隸太常‧‧‧•統國子、太學、四門、書算學，各置博士、國子、太學、四門各五人，書、算各二人。助教、國子、太學、四門各五人，書、算各二人。學生國子一百四十人，太學、四門各三百六十人，書四十人，算八十人。等員。」
192. 隋朝的算學就是指數學系，學生有八十人。《隋書·百官志》：「國子寺元隸太常......統國子、太學、四門、書算學，各置博士、國子、太學、四門各五人，書、算各二人。助教、國子、太學、四門各五人，書、算各二人。學生國子一百四十人，太學、四門各三百六十人，書四十人，算八十人。等員。」
193. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代时期 第一章 南北统一社会繁荣时期——隋〉，第五节 隋朝的文化，421頁。
194. 范文瀾，《中國通史》〈第三卷 隋唐五代時期 第一章 南北統一社會繁榮時期——隋〉，第五節 隋朝的文化，421頁。
195. 陳美東著，《中國科學技術史•天文學卷》 第五章 第三節。
196. 《中國文明史 隋唐五代史》第八章 自然科學和醫學的豐碩成果，601頁
197. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史 隋唐五代史》第八章 〈自然科學和醫學的豐碩成果〉，601頁
198. "李春雕像". Bản gốc lưu trữ ngày 4 tháng 3 năm 2016. Truy cập ngày 13 tháng 9 năm 2013.
199. 粱思成《中国建筑艺术二十讲》，第十二讲 第二节 赵州桥，186页
200. 李偉傳，《中華文化史》，第十一章〈隋朝〉，第406頁。
201. 復旦大學（1982年）：《中國古代經濟簡史》第四章〈封建社會北朝隋唐（前期）的經濟〉，第106頁
202. 《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第八章 自然科學和醫學的豐碩成果，635頁
203. 編輯部編輯（1992年）:《中國文明史·隋唐五代史》第八章 〈自然科學和醫學的豐碩成果〉，635頁
204. 《古今醫統》：「巢元方，不知何郡人，大業中為太醫博士，奉詔撰《諸病源候論》五十卷，罔不該集。今行世為《巢氏病源》。」