《General History of China》Episode 52 Synopsis
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
In 581 AD, Yang Jian, the former minister of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, usurped the Zhou Dynasty and established the Sui Dynasty, which finally ended the Northern and Southern Dynasties that lasted for more than 160 years.In the early days of the Sui Dynasty, as Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty worked hard to govern, the country gradually got rid of poverty and weakness.However, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, who succeeded to the throne, increasingly embarked on the path of luxury and corruption in his later years. In the end, in the mist and rain in the south of the Yangtze River, he single-handedly pushed the great Sui Dynasty into the abyss of eternal destruction.
