Yang Xiu (Sui Dynasty)

Yang Xiu (楊秀) (died 618) was an imperial prince of the Chinese dynasty Sui Dynasty. He was a son of Emperor Wen and his wife Empress Dugu, and during most of his father's reign was given great control over the modern Sichuan and Chongqing region. In 602, after accusations were made that Yang Xiu was abusing his power, Emperor Wen removed him from power and reduced him to commoner rank. He was subsequently held under house arrest for the rest of Emperor Wen's reign and the reign of his brother Emperor Yang. In 618, after the general Yuwen Huaji killed Emperor Yang, he and his coconspirators briefly considered declaring Yang Xiu emperor, but ultimately decided not to, and instead executed Yang Xiu and his sons.

It is not known exactly when Yang Xiu was born, but it is known that he was the fourth of the five sons of Yang Jian and Yang Jian's wife Dugu Qieluo. As the third of his older brothers, Yang Jun, was born in 571 (his younger brother, Yang Liang, similarly has an unknown birth year) and he was already born at least by the time that Yang Jian seized the throne from Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou, ending Northern Zhou and establishing Sui Dynasty as its Emperor Wen in 581, he would have been born sometime between 572 and 579. In 581, after Emperor Wen took the throne, he created his sons imperial princes, and Yang Xiu was created the Prince of Yue.

In winter 581, the official Xuan Min (宣敏), after returning from an inspection of the Shu region (modern Chongqing and Sichuan), suggested that Emperor Wen should make the region the fief for one of his sons, pointing out the region's wealth and strategic importance and that Northern Zhou had fallen because its imperial princes lacked power to defend the state. Emperor Wen liked the proposal, and so changed Yang Xiu's title to Prince of Shu and made him the commandant of Yi Province (益州, roughly modern Chengdu, Sichuan), in charge of the 24 surrounding provinces. Emperor Wen made the official Yuan Yan (元巖) Yang Xiu's chief of staff, and it was said that Yuan served Yang Xiu capably, keeping his behavior proper. Yang Xiu did not participate in the campaign against Chen Dynasty in 589 that destroyed Chen and unified China, in which his older brothers Yang Guang the Prince of Jin and Yang Jun the Prince of Qin participated; instead, the soldiers from his region were commanded by Yang Su, implying that Yang Xiu might not be old enough to command troops personally by this point.

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