Sui Reunification of China and the Civil Service Examinations
Also called: Founding of the Sui, Imperial examinations
Emperor Wen of Sui (Yang Jian) founded the Sui in 581 and reunified China after some 300 years by destroying the southern Chen in 589. He was the first to choose officials by examination.
Yan Li-pen · Public domain · Source
Yang Jian, an in-law of the Northern Zhou house, took the throne from a child emperor in 581, founded the Sui and built a new capital, Daxing, beside old Chang’an. In 589 he destroyed the Chen in the south, ending nearly three centuries of division since the Western Jin. He kept the northern equal-field and militia systems, issued the Kaihuang code and set up the framework of the Three Departments and Six Ministries.
Emperor Wen abolished the Nine-Rank system through which great families had inherited office, and around 587 began selecting officials by examination in learning. The examinations lasted some 1,300 years through Tang and Song until the Qing abolished them in 1905, and were adopted by Goryeo under Gwangjong (958) and by Vietnam. The jinshi degree is thought to date from Emperor Yang’s reign.
The united Sui split the Turks into eastern and western khaganates and pressed Goguryeo to submit. When King Yeongyang of Goguryeo struck Liaoxi first in 598, Emperor Wen sent an army of 300,000, which withdrew. The war with Goguryeo grew larger under his son, Emperor Yang.