Emperor Yang of Sui

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Emperor Yang of Sui 隋煬帝
Tang dynasty portrait of Emperor Yang by Yan Liben
Emperor of the Sui dynasty
Reign	August 21, 604[1] – April 11, 618
Predecessor	Emperor Wen
Successor	Yang You
Born	569
Died	11 April 618 (aged 49) Danyang, Sui China
Burial	Jiangdu
Consorts	Empress Min
Issue	Yang Zhao Yang Jian Yang Gao Princess Nanyang
Names Yang Guang 楊廣 Era dates Daye (大業; 605–618) Posthumous name Emperor Yang (煬皇帝; "slothful") (conferred by the Tang dynasty) Emperor Ming (明皇帝; "understanding") (conferred by Yang Tong) Emperor Min (閔皇帝; "careful") (conferred by Dou Jiande) Temple name Shizu (世祖)
House	Yang
Dynasty	Sui
Father	Emperor Wen
Mother	Empress Wenxian

Emperor Yang of Sui (隋煬帝, 569 – 11 April 618^[2]), personal name Yang Guang (楊廣), alternative name Ying (英), Xianbei name Amo (阿摩), was the second emperor of the Sui dynasty of China.

Emperor Yang's original name was Yang Ying, but he was renamed by his father Emperor Wen, after consulting with oracles, to Yang Guang. Yang Guang was made the Prince of Jin after Emperor Wen established the Sui dynasty in 581. In 588, he was granted command of the five armies that invaded the Chen dynasty in southern China and was widely praised for the success of this campaign. These military achievements, as well as his machinations against his older brother Yang Yong, led to him becoming crown prince in 600. After the death of his father in 604, generally considered, though unproven, by most traditional historians to be a murder ordered by Yang Guang, he ascended the Sui throne.

Emperor Yang, ruling from 604 to 618, committed to several large construction projects, most notably the completion of the Grand Canal, and the reconstruction of the Great Wall. He also ordered several military expeditions that brought Sui to its greatest territorial extent, one of which, the conquest of Champa, resulted in the death of thousands of Sui soldiers from malaria. These expeditions, along with a series of disastrous campaigns against Goguryeo, left the empire bankrupt and the populace in revolt. With northern China in turmoil, Emperor Yang spent his last days in Jiangdu (江都, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), where he was eventually strangled in a coup led by his general Yuwen Huaji.

Despite his accomplishments, Emperor Yang is generally considered by traditional historians to be one of the worst tyrants in Chinese history and the reason for the Sui dynasty's relatively short rule. His failed campaigns against Goguryeo, and the conscriptions levied to man them, coupled with increased taxation to finance these wars, and civil unrest as a result of this taxation, ultimately led to the downfall of the dynasty.