The Sui Dynasty (581–618) is a short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty.

Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it unifies China for the first time after over a century of north-south division.

It is followed by the Tang Dynasty.Founded by Emperor Wen of Sui, the Sui Dynasty capital is at Chang'an (which is renamed Daxing).

His reign sees the reunification of Southern and Northern China and the construction of the Grand Canal.

Emperors Wen and Yang undertook various reforms including the Equal-field system, which is initiated to reduce the rich-poor social gap that result in enhanced agricultural productivity, as well as government centralization and reforms, creating a new model of governance after centuries of division.

The Three Departments and Six Ministries system is officially instituted, coinage is standardized and runified, defense is improved and the Great Wall expanded.

Buddhism is also spread and encouraged throughout the empire, uniting the varied peoples and cultures of China.This dynasty has often been compared to the earlier Qin Dynasty in tenor and in the ruthlessness of its accomplishments.

The Sui dynasty's early demise is attributed to the government's tyrannical demands on the people, who bear the crushing burden of taxes and compulsory labor.

These resources are overstrained by the completion of the Grand Canal, a monumental engineering feat, and in the undertaking of other construction projects, including the reconstruction of the Great Wall.

Weakened by costly and disastrous military campaigns against Goguryeo (in modern day Korea) which ends with the defeat of Sui in the early seventh century, the dynasty disintegrates through a combination of popular revolts, disloyalty, and assassinations.