The only coin cast during the Sui dynasty was the "wu zhu," or "five zhu" coin. A "zhu" was a unit of measure equivalent to 100 millet seeds. The wu zhu coin first came into use in approximately 120 BCE in the Han period, and was used with virtually no alteration to its design until the 621 CE, when the Tang dynasty replaced the "zhu" monetary standard unit with the "qian." Thus the wu zhu coin was in continuous circulation in China for almost 750 years.

This continuation of a single coin design over so many changes in the political control of China is in stark contrast with practices found in other cultures, where new coins were struck whenever there was a change in political structure. The ubiquitous ruler's portrait found on coins throughout Central Asia, the Indian sub-continent, the Near East and the Mediterranean demonstrates the perceived propagandistic value of coins, and we know that these foreign coins were carried to China along with other trade goods. Yet it seems the various Chinese emperors through the centuries largely ignored these foreign examples. The fact that Emperor Wendi continued to utilize the same coin types as the government he displaced shows us that there was no close identification of the Sui government with the coins it minted, an observation that can be made about most Chinese coins and the governments that struck them, up until the modern period.