ABSTRACT
In 581, the chief minister of Northern Zhou seized power and declared himself the first emperor of a new dynasty, the Sui. The Sui was a powerful dynasty and within a few years succeeded in reuniting China. The groundwork was laid for several centuries of settled government for at least the greater part of China. The Youzhou area, remote from the centre of China, was little affected by the wars of unification at the beginning of the Sui dynasty. Under the Sui and the succeeding Tang dynasties, it was to be an important base for military operations in the Korean peninsula and the north-east. Its prosperity increased greatly during the next few centuries.
