The Sui Dynasty followed the Southern and Northern Dynasties and preceded the Tang Dynasty in China. It ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes.

The Sui Dynasty, founded by Emperor Wen, or Yang Jian, held its capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), also known during Sui as Daxing. It was marked by the reunification of Southern and Northern China and the construction of the Grand Canal, though it was a relatively short Chinese dynasty. It saw various reforms by Emperors Wen and Yang: the land equalization system, initiated to reduce the rich-poor social gap, resulted in enhanced agricultural productivity; governmental power was centralized and the Three Departments and Six Ministries system officially instituted; coinage was standardized and re-unified; defense was improved, and the Great Wall was expanded. Buddhism was also spread and encouraged throughout the empire, uniting the varied people and cultures of China.

This dynasty has often been compared to the earlier Qin Dynasty in tenure and the ruthlessness of its accomplishments. The Sui dynasty's early demise was attributed to the government's tyrannical demands on the people, who bore the crushing burden of taxes and compulsory labor. These resources were overstrained in 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 which ended with defeat of Sui in the early seventh century, the dynasty disintegrated through a combination of popular revolts, disloyalty, and assassination.

Some historians compare the short-lived Sui Dynasty with the Qin Dynasty. Qin as well as Sui preceded a great age of dynasties with a prospering economy and overwhelming culture, and both tried to initiate great reforms without conditions ripe for a change yet. And likewise, the two dynasties by their administratorial reforms prepared the performance of a long-lasting government of the succession dynasties. In the sphere of culture, art, literature and language the Sui Dynasty had the task to reunite the empire after three hundred years of division that had caused great differences in the southern and northern traditions. While the first emperor of Sui, Sui Wendi (Yang Jian), was interpreted by the historians as the great unifier of China, his successor, Sui Yangdi who exhausted the state treasure and the labour force of the population by extensive official work (imperial canal, also called Grand Canal) and successless military enterprises, is blamed as the extravagant and ruthless last dynastic ruler.