Sui Wen-ti (541-604) is the formal posthumous name of the Chinese emperor Yang Chien, founder of the Sui dynasty. He brought about the unification of China after more than 3 centuries of political division.

The ancestry of Sui Wen-ti, born Yang Chien, is not certain, but it is likely that his antecedents served as officials under several of the non-Chinese states in North China. His father, Yang Chung, was a soldier and was given a title of nobility and a fief by the last ruler of the Northern Wei and again earned a noble title and fief by his distinguished military service to Yü-wen T'ai, the founder of the Western Wei dynasty. Yü-wen T'ai gave him the title of Duke of Sui, a title which Yang Chien inherited.

Yang Chien was born in a Buddhist monastery in North China and grew up in the care...