After his death in 580, when he was already nominally retired (Taishang Huang), Xuan's father-in-law Yang Jian took power, and in 581 seized the throne from Emperor Xuan's son Emperor Jing, establishing Sui.

The young Emperor Jing and the imperial Yuwen clan, were subsequently slaughtered by Yang Jian.

[7] The Tomb of An Jia, a Sogdian merchant (518-579 CE) based in China during the Northern Zhou dynasty, shows the omnipresence of the Turks (at the time of the First Turkic Khaganate), who were probably the main trading partners of the Sogdians in China.

[8] There were also marital alliances: the Northern Zhou Emperor Wu had a Turkic Empress named Ashina.

Central Asian precious artifacts were often included in the funeral material of Chinese people of high rank, as seen in the tomb of the Xianbei-Tuoba Northern Zhou general Li Xian.