Yang of Sui (c640). Scroll detail. Ink, color on silk. 50 x 35. Attributed. Emperor Yang of Sui, personal name Yang Guang, alternative name Ying, nickname Amo, also known as Emperor Ming during the brief reign of his grandson Yang Tong, was the second son of Emperor Wen of Sui, and the second emperor of China's Sui dynasty. Emperor Yang's original name was Yang Ying, but was renamed by his father, after consulting with oracles, to Yang Guang. Yang Guang was made the Prince of Jin after Emperor Wen established Sui Dynasty in 581. In 588, he was granted command of the five armies that invaded the southern Chen dynasty and was widely praised for the success of this campaign. These military achievements, as well as his machinations against his older brother Yang Yong, led to him becoming crown prince in 600. After the death of his father in 604, generally considered, though unproven, by most traditional historians to be a murder ordered by Yang Guang, he ascended the throne as Emperor Yang. Emperor Yang, ruling from 604 to 618, committed to several large construction projects, most notably the completion of the Grand Canal. He commanded the reconstruction of the Great Wall, a project which took the lives of nearly six million workers. He also ordered several military expeditions that brought Sui to its greatest territorial extent, one of which, the conquest of Champa in what is now central and southern Vietnam, resulted in the death of thousands of Sui soldiers from malaria. These expeditions, along with a series of disastrous campaigns against Goguryeo, left the empire bankrupt and a populace in revolt. With northern China in turmoil, Emperor Yang spent his last days in Jiangdu, where he was eventually strangled in a coup led by his general Yuwen Huaji. Despite his accomplishments, Emperor Yang was generally considered by traditional historians to be one of the worst tyrants in Chinese history and the reason for the Sui Dynasty's relatively short rule. His failed campaigns against Goguryeo, and the conscriptions levied to man them, coupled with increased taxation to finance these wars and civil unrest as a result of this taxation ultimately led to the downfall of the dynasty. Yang Guang was born in 569, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. His parents were Yang Jian the Duke of Sui and Yang Jian's wife Duchess Dugu Qieluo. He was their second son, after Yang Yong, and he had at least one older sister, Yang Lihua, who became the wife of Emperor Wu's crown prince Yuwen Yun in 573. He was considered handsome and intelligent in his youth, and of Yang Jian's and Duchess Dugu's sons, they favored him the most. Sometime during Northern Zhou, on account of Yang Jian's achievements, he was created the Duke of Yanmen. In 580, Yang Jian seized power as regent after Emperor Xuan's death. In 581, he had Emperor Xuan's son, Emperor Jing, yield the throne to him, ending Northern Zhou and establishing Sui Dynasty as its Emperor Wen. Emperor Wen created Yang Yong crown prince and created his other sons imperial princes. Yang Guang thus received the title of Prince of Jin. Also in 581, Emperor Wen made Yang Guang the commandant at Bing Province, in charge of the provinces north of the Yellow River. In 582, Emperor Wen set up a branch of the executive bureau of his government at Bing Province and made Yang Guang its head. He made the official Wang Shao the deputy head and had him assist Yang Guang. Later in 582, Emperor Wen took a daughter of his vassal Emperor Ming of Western Liang to be Yang Guang's wife and princess. It was said that Yang Guang loved and respected her. In 584, after some Sui military and diplomatic victories, Tujue's Shabolüe Khan Ashina Shetu submitted to Sui. Yang Guang suggested to Emperor Wen that he rejected Ashina Shetu's overture and launch a major attack on Tujue, but Emperor Wen refused. In 585, with Ashina Shetu under attack from one of his subordinate khans, the Datou Khan Ashina Dianjue, Emperor Wen in fact sent Yang Guang to aid Ashina Shetu. In 588, Emperor Wen moved Yang Guang's headquarters to Shouchun, and made him the commandant there as well as the head the branch of the executive bureau established there. In winter 588, Emperor Wen launched a major attack on rival Chen Dynasty. Yang Guang, his brother Yang Jun, and the general Yang Su were in command of the three main prongs of the operation, with Yang Guang in command of the eastern prong as well as the overall operation. The key official Gao Jiong served as Yang Guang's assistant. In spring 589, the generals Han Qinhu and Heruo Bi, both under Yang Guang, crossed the Yangtze River and approached the Chen capital Jiankang. Soon, after Heruo defeated the Chen general Xiao Mohe, Jiankang fell, and the Chen emperor Chen Shubao was captured.