Sui Emperor Yang is a notorious “bad last ruler” in Chinese history. His Grand Canal project, his establishment of multiple capitals, and his frequent tours throughout the realm are traditionally regarded as acts of extravagance and self-indulgence. This talk, which is part of my forthcoming book Writing Empire and Self: Poetic and Cultural Transformation in Early Medieval China, argues that imperial mobility was an effective strategy for creating a cohesive polity out of the multipolar world of the late Northern…