Sui tang biography definition

Jul 10, 2010 © Ulrich Theobald

Suishu 隋書 "Book of the Sui" is the official dynastic history (zhengshi 正史) of the Sui dynasty 隋 (581-618). It is 85-juan long, of which 5 juan are imperial annals-biographies (benji 本紀), 30 juan treatises (zhi 志), and 50 juan normal and collective biographies (liezhuan 列傳).

The book covers the time frame from 581 to 618, when the Tang dynasty 唐 (618-907) was founded.

The imperial decree to compile the official history of the Sui was issued in 629.

Why did the sui dynasty decline under emperor yang?

The compilation of the biographies was supervised by Wei Zheng 魏徵 (580–643, courtesy name Xuancheng 玄成), and the leaders of the compilation team were Yan Shigu 顏師古 (581–645), Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574–648) and Xu Jingzong 許敬宗 (592–672).

The book was completed in 636. The treatises were compiled by Yu Zhining 于志寧 (588–665), Li Chunfeng 李淳風 (602–670), Li Yanshou 李延壽 (dates unknown) and Yan Shigu, the supervision was taken over by Linghu Defen 令狐德芬 (who was also author of the dynastic history