23 Jan 1368. Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to throne of China as Hongwu Emperor, founding Ming Dynasty that would last for 3 centuries

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23 January 1368 In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.

The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 - 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, was the founder and first emperor of China's Ming dynasty.

In the middle of the 14th century, with famine, plagues, and peasant revolts sweeping across China, Chu Yuan chang rose to command the force that ended the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, forcing the Mongols to retreat to the Central Asian steppes.

Zhu was born into a desperately poor peasant tenant farmer family. He had seven older siblings, several of whom were "given away" by his parents, as they did not have enough food to support the family. When he was 16, severe drought ruined the harvest where his family lived. Subsequently, famine killed his entire family, except one of his brothers.

Destitute, Zhu accepted a suggestion to take up a pledge made by his brother and became a novice monk. He did not remain there for long, as the monastery ran short of funds, and he was forced to leave.

For the next few years, Zhu led the life of a wandering beggar and personally experienced and saw the hardships of the common people. After about three years, he returned to the monastery and stayed there until he was around 24 years old. He learned to read and write during the time he spent with the Buddhist monks.

After the founding of the new dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang implemented a series of policies to reduce the peasants' burden and to resume the production of the whole society. On the other hand, he focused much attention on the punishment and prevention of corruption among court officials.

The Ming dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China – then known as the Great Ming Empire – for 276 years (1368–1644) following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming, described by Edwin O. Reischauer, John K. Fairbank and Albert M. Craig as "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last imperial dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese.

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