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China: Emperor Yang of Sui (569–618) from the 'Thirteen Emperors Scroll' painted by Tang Dynasty court painter Yan Liben (600-673).

Emperor Yang of Sui (569 - March 11, 618), personal name Yang Guang, also known as Emperor Ming, was the second son of Emperor Wen of Sui, and the second emperor of China's Sui Dynasty. Emperor Yang, ruling from 604 to 618, committed to several large construction projects during his rule, most notably the completion of the Grand Canal. He ordered 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, caused death of thousands of Sui soldiers through malaria. These expenditures, along with a series of disastrous campaigns against Goguryeo (one of the three kingdoms of Korea), left the empire bankrupt and the people in revolt. With northern China in turmoil, Emperor Yang spent his last days in Jiangdu (in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), where he was eventually strangled in a coup led by his general Yuwen Huaji.

Yan Liben (Wade–Giles: Yen Li-pen, c. 600-673), formally Baron Wenzhen of Boling, was a Chinese painter and government official of the early Tang Dynasty. His notable works include the Thirteen Emperors Scroll and Northern Qi Scholars Collating Classic Texts. He also painted the Portraits at Lingyan Pavilion, under Emperor Taizong of Tang, commissioned in 643 to commemorate 24 of the greatest contributors to Emperor Taizong's reign, as well as 18 portraits commemorating the 18 great scholars who served Emperor Taizong when he was the Prince of Qin. Yan's paintings included painted portraits of various Chinese emperors from the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) up until the Sui Dynasty (581-618) period