The Sui Dynasty

by Arthur F. Wright

The Sui Dynasty

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction

237 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Arthur Frederick Wright was an American sinologist and academic. He taught at Yale University for many years, and became the Charles Seymour Professor of History in 1961. His primary area of specialisation was pre-modern Chinese social and intellectual history.

Reviews

[Kevin English · Rating 4 out of 5]

If we study a map and geography of modern China, it should appear odd that China is a single, unified nation. Why was China not divided into many smaller, competing states like Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East or Central Asia?

This book seeks to answer that. The author credits the short lived Sui Dynasty that ruled from 581-617. The Sui proved that China could be united again after centuries of disunity. Through a mixture of military conquest, cultural hegemony, infrastructure projects and building an effective bureaucracy, the Sui established a template that would be copied by successor dynasties like the Tang, Song, Ming.

This is a well written book with a ton of insight for history geeks. The author Arthur F. Wright was an excellent Chinese scholar and a great explainer of the wider treads as well as the individual character studies.

One downside: the book uses the older Wade-Giles system for Chinese spelling. This system is still used in Taiwan which is we have "Taipei" instead of "Taibei" (bĕi is north in Chinese). The consequence is that it makes it harder to Google or look up in Wikipedia some of the place names. Maybe someday somebody will create a new edition of this book with pinyin and more detailed maps.


Disclaimer: This is not a great entry point for Chinese History. For that, I recommend the great courses
From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History or Lazlo Montgomery's early episodes of China History Podcast.

[Erik Champenois · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Sui dynasty (581-618) was to the Tang dynasty what Qin was to the Han - a relatively brief-lived dynasty that set the stage for a longer lived Empire. Published nearly 50 years ago, this book is likely dated, but still a helpful review of the Sui dynasty, particularly focused on its beginnings under Yang Jian (Emperor Wen) but also covering his son Yang Guang, the second and last ruler of the dynasty. As far as the historical sources allow, you get to know the character of these rulers and of the people close to them. You also get a nice review of the dynamics of northern and southern China prior to the founding of the Sui, some coverage of how the rulers paid homage to (primarily) Buddhism and (secondarily) Taoism, and an understanding of both culture, architecture, and foreign relations in the process.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A welcome edition to the often overlooked world of pre-Tang scholarship.