The establishment of the Sui Dynasty ended the chaotic pattern of the Northern and Southern Dynasties for hundreds of years. In the land of the Central Plains, since the first minority regime established by liu yuan of the Xiongnu in the late Western Jin Dynasty, after hundreds of years of turmoil, a multi-ethnic state with the Han nationality as the main body has re-emerged.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, Vientiane was renewed, and Yang Jian not only wanted to be a benevolent emperor, but also aspired to surpass any previous generation of emperors and become the holy lord admired by all the people. Therefore, at the beginning of his reign as emperor, he gave the newly established Sui Dynasty a year name - Kai Huang.
The reason for such an era name is not only Yang Jian's subjective ideas, but also the objective results brought about by his experience. Yang Jian was born in a Buddhist temple, and since he was a child, he has boasted of his great vajra, and now that he has ascended to the throne as he wishes, he believes that this is the destiny of heaven, so in Yang Jian's view, he should vigorously promote the theory of mandate of heaven.
According to the "Golden Guangming Sutra and The Eleventh Treatise on the True Treatise", Yang Jian was known as "the age of the Red Ruo, the time of the Yellow House, the soil water line, the rise and destruction of the standing, the Buddha's day fire multiplied, the wooden transport Qi Nian, and the number to open the emperor".
Yang Jian was a devout Buddhist, so he used the word "Kai Huang" in the above records as a New Era name, mainly to take the Buddhist theory of robbery. From today's point of view, although Yang Jian believes in Buddhism, as an emperor of a generation, political factors are his primary consideration. Later, after the Sui Dynasty Emperor Yang Guang ascended the throne, he once revealed Yang Jian's political motives for naming the new era name, saying that "Gao Zu was ordained to the charm because he asked about ghosts and gods." That is to say, Yang Jian had been superstitious about ghosts and gods all his life, and before he came to power, he had received the help of Taoist priests, so he used an era name derived from Buddhism, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone, fully demonstrating the characteristics of using religion to serve politics.
Of course, in addition to Yang Jian's religious complex and political purposes, the era name of "Kai Huang" also shows Yang Jian's grand ambition to get rid of the old cloth and the new and rule the world. In this sense, the series of things Yang Jian did next laid the foundation for the institutional culture of future generations in China, and in many ways had a profound impact on future generations.
For a new dynasty, Zhengshuo and the color of clothing were symbols of political tendencies. As soon as the Sui Dynasty was established, Yang Jian summoned Cui Zhongfang and Gao Ji to discuss the matter of determining Zheng Shuo and fuse. Cui Zhongfang suggested adopting the popular theory of the five elements of symbiosis, citing the saying that "Jin is Jinxing, Later Wei is water, Zhou is wood, and the royal family uses fire to bear wood, and the unity of heaven is obtained", suggesting that red is the mainstay.
This suggestion was approved by Yang Jian, so he formally issued an edict in June of the first year of the founding of the emperor (581): "At the beginning of the Mandate of Heaven, the red bird descends on the auspicious, the five virtues are born, the red is the color of fire, its suburbs and shrines are obeyed according to the ceremony of the crown, and the costume of the court meeting, the flag is sacrificed, and the order is still red, and the obedience is yellow." "
According to the traditional Five Elements Doctrine, Zhou is a wooden line, in the East; Wood makes fire, so Sui is a fire line, in the south, it is summer, the color is still red, and the center is earth, the color is still yellow. The Sui Dynasty adopted both, and the banner was sacrificed, and Shang Chi was ordered. The color of the monarch's clothes was yellow, so later generations called the Sui Dynasty emperors "yellow-striped Aya robes, black gauze hats, nine-ring belts, and wupi six-fold boots." Hundreds of officials are often dressed, and they are the same as those who walk, and all wear yellow robes and shirts, and enter and leave the temple province."
After settling on the color of Zhengshuo's kimono, Lu Ben also asked to change the banner of Northern Zhou, proposing to create the banners of Qinglong, Yuyu, Suzaku, Xuanwu, Qianqiu, and Banzai. Li Delin, on the other hand, thought that the Northern Zhou Dynasty's inheritance of Northern Wei's car opinion was not in line with the ancient system, and asked Yang Jian to abolish it, and Yang Jian allowed it to play, retaining only the five grids created by Li Shao during the Northern Wei Taihe and Yi Cao Ling.
After some major changes, the newly established Sui Dynasty finally began to take shape with a ceremonial system, and on the seventh day of July, Yang Jian wore the newly made yellow robe and accepted the greetings of hundreds of officials in the main hall. As he looked around, the monarch's costumes were new, revealing a joyful atmosphere, and everyone could feel the grandeur of the new dynasty behind the restructuring.
Through the change of public opinion, Yang Jian changed the Northern Zhou system. Northern Wei originated in the northeast Gaxian Cave, out of the deep mountains after the development of the desert north region, and finally into the Central Plains for more than a hundred years, its system construction has been focused on consolidating the Xianbei ethnic minority regime, must refer to the Hu system more, and later although Emperor Xiaowen vigorously promoted the Sinicization reform, but still retained a large number of Xianbei customs.
The Six Towns Uprising is an important symbol of the resurgence of Xianbei customs, especially the Yuwen clan regime located in the Guanlong region, which is weak in its own power and needs to use the Xianbei relics to win the hearts of the people, so the Yuwen family regime is unique for a time, and various bad habits are rampant in the world, according to historical data, "public opinion is dressed in clothes, and there are many pedantics".
Therefore, after Yang Jian established the Sui Dynasty, if he wanted to establish the image of a new dynasty, he must first break these rampant Hu customs and restore the traditional Han system. When Yang Jianjunchen took off the antique clothes of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and replaced them with traditional Han costumes, it was already announced that Han culture would be re-developed in the days to come. This also means that the Han people, who have been humiliated for more than two hundred years, have finally become the masters of the country again, and history has indeed entered a new era, and all this was done through the brief court meeting of Yang Jian and Qunchen. Therefore, at the beginning of its establishment, the Sui Dynasty won the favor of the people.
Establishing the dominance of the Han people is an important purpose of Yang Jian's change of public opinion, and more importantly, behind the change of public opinion, people strongly feel that the new dynasty is different from the founding principle of the previous generation, which is the basic national policy established by Yang Jian that "the official etiquette of the Yi Zhou clan is based on the old Han and Wei". Obviously, the restoration of the Han chinese system and culture before the Southern and Northern Dynasties was the consensus of Yang Jianjun's subordinates, aiming to wash away the color of the narrow national regime, in order to gain universally recognized orthodoxy, and then reconstruct a strong unified state with the Han nationality as the main body.
It should be noted that the policy of "relying on the old Han and Wei" formulated by Yang Jian is not a retrogression of the past. We should see that after hundreds of years of social division and change, the Han and Wei systems can no longer be fully restored, and they can no longer meet the actual political needs. Ever since the Northern Wei Dynasty's secretary Emperor Subei tou Xiaowen emperor Xiaowen formulated the ceremonial state code in the seventeenth year (493) of the Northern Wei Dynasty and transplanted the Han and Jin cultural relics systems inherited and developed in the early period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Northern Dynasty, it has been integrated with the traditional culture preserved in the Central Plains and adapted to the socio-political development of the Northern Dynasty. After that, after the revision of the Confucians, the northern Qi system was established.
Therefore, although Yang Jian held high the banner of restoring the Han system, he was actually taken from the model of the Northern Qi system as the starting point for the innovative system. If we analyze from this logic, it is not difficult for us to understand that Yang Jian's painstaking innovations and establishments are implemented in the "adoption of the Eastern Qi method." Obviously, the slogan of restoring the Han system is actually neither blindly retro nor narrow and exclusive Hanism. Yang Jian skillfully balanced the relationship between ideal and reality, showing the shrewd and pragmatic leadership style of a generation of founding monarchs.