Founder of the Sui dynasty: he took the Northern Zhou throne in 581 and conquered the southern Chen in 589, uniting China after centuries of division. He began choosing officials by examination, the root of 科举.
Yang Jian ended the division of the Northern and Southern dynasties.
Tips
memory
His fief was 隨, but when he made it the name of his dynasty he dropped the 辶 'walking' radical, which seemed to promise a reign that would not stay, and wrote 隋. The dynasty still lasted only 37 years.
culture
He was born in a Buddhist nunnery, and the nun 智仙 who raised him named him 那罗延, from a Sanskrit word glossed 'indestructible as a diamond'. Under the Northern Zhou his family bore the Xianbei surname 普六茹; he changed it back to Yang on taking power.
