Royals › Monarch / Emperor

Yang Guang

Second Sui emperor, Yangdi, who built the eastern capital at Luoyang and the Grand Canal, failed in three wars against Goguryeo, and was strangled in a mutiny at Jiangdu

Also known as Yi Mingying · Xiaozi Achuang · Emperor Yang of Sui

Yang Guang, also called Ying, was the second son of Emperor Wen of Sui and Empress Dugu; he was made Prince of Jin in 581 and in 588 led the expedition that conquered the Chen. In 600 he displaced his elder brother Yang Yong as crown prince, and he took the throne in 604, adopting the reign title Daye the next year. From 605 he built the eastern capital at Luoyang and opened the Tongji Canal, followed by the Yongji Canal and the Jiangnan Canal, forming a waterway network centred on Luoyang; in 609 he toured west to Zhangye and set up the Xihai and other commanderies. His three campaigns against Goguryeo between 612 and 614 all failed, while Yang Xuangan rebelled and uprisings spread. Lingering at Jiangdu in 618, he was strangled in a mutiny led by Yuwen Huaji, and the Tang gave him the condemnatory posthumous name Yang. His tomb, with its epitaph, was found at Caozhuang in Yangzhou in 2013.

Life and times

  1. 569 CEBornNorthern and SouthernSuiTang
  2. 589Sui ReunificationTook partage 20Emperor Wen sent Sui armies across the Yangtze to defeat Chen, ending the Northern and Southern Dynasties division and reunifying the realm.
  3. 598Sui–Goguryeo WarsTook partage 29Repeated Sui–Goguryeo wars from 598 to 614 ended in Sui setbacks, while mass mobilization deepened the dynasty's fiscal and social crisis.
    1. Sui Military Disaster at Salsu612age 43Sui armies invading Goguryeo suffered catastrophic defeat at Salsu River, losing hundreds of thousands of troops.
  4. 605Imperial Examination FoundedTook partage 36Sui and Tang courts institutionalized subject examinations for office, broadening recruitment through writing and classical learning beyond inherited rank.
    1. Emperor Yang Establishing Jinshi ExaminationEmperor Yang created the Jinshi degree, replacing hereditary aristocratic privilege with imperial civil examinations.
  5. 605Building of Eastern LuoyangTook partage 36Emperor Yang built the eastern capital at Luoyang with palaces, wards, markets, and canals linking the Sui realm north and south.
    1. Sui Yangdi Opens the Grand Canalc. 605Between 605 and 618, Sui Yangdi ordered work on the Tongji, Yongji, Han, and Jiangnan canals and made several visits to Jiangdu.
    2. Emperor Yang Opens the Tongji CanalIn 605 CE, Emperor Yang ordered the Tongji Canal, linking Luoyang with the Huai River waterway.
    3. Yuwen Kai Building Sui LuoyangArchitect Yuwen Kai planned and built the eastern metropolis Luoyang, linking the Grand Canal to dynastic power.
  6. 605Sui Grand Canal ExcavationTook partage 36Dredging thousands of kilometers centered on Luoyang, establishing the imperial north-south hydraulic lifeline.
    1. Grand Canal ConstructionEmperor Yang Excavating the 2,000-km Grand Canal
  7. 613Second Liaodong Campaign Is Abandonedage 44In 613 Emperor Yang renewed the Sui campaign against Goguryeo, but Yang Xuangan's rebellion forced its abandonment.
  8. 615Siege of YanmenTook partage 46Shibi Khagan besieged Emperor Yang at Yanmen; relief forces and diplomacy ended the crisis but exposed the weakness of Sui's northern defense.
    1. Shibi Khan Besieging Emperor YangTurkic forces under Shibi Khan besieged Emperor Yang at Yanmen until Li Shimin engineered a relief countermeasure.
  9. 618 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Poetry2
    1. Watering Horses at a Spring by the Great Wall, Shown to the Officials Accompanying the CampaignSuiEmperor Yang of Sui's yuefu for his officers on the Great Wall campaign, broad and martial
    2. Gazing over the WildsSuiEmperor Yang of Sui's short poem of crows and a village stream at sunset, borrowed by Qin Guan
  2. Literature · Sayings1
    1. A Thousand Chariots and Ten Thousand HorsemenSuiIdiom from Emperor Yang of Sui's poem: his great army waters horses at the Wall

Family tree

  1. Direct kin
    Yang Jian
    Father
    Dugu Qieluo
    Mother
    Yang XiuYounger brother
    Yang LiangYounger brother (same mother)
    Yang JunYounger brother
    Yang LihuaElder sister (same mother)
    Yang Guang
    Wife
    Empress Xiao
    Children
    Emperor Gong of Sui

Connections

  1. Shared events3
    1. Li Shimin598 CE–649 CE
    2. Yang XuanganBirth unknown–613…
    3. Yuwen Kai555 CE–612 CE
  2. Others1
    1. Yang SuBacker in the succession struggle · 544 CE–606 CE