The Hongwu Emperor
1 min readThe Hongwu Emperor（1328-1398），personal name Zhu Yuanzhang，was the founder of the Ming Dynasty of China，and the first emperor of this dynasty from 1368 to 1398.His era name Hongwu means“Immensely Martial.’
Among the Chinese populace there were strong feelings against the rule of“the foreigners”under the Mongols Yuan Dynasty which finally led to a peasant revolution，led by Hongwu，that pushed the Yuan dynasty back to the Mongolian steppes and established the Ming Dynasty in 1368.Hongwu，the founder of the Ming Dynasty，was one of the only two dynasty founders who emerged from the peasantclass.The other one was Gaozu of Han.Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping are the twoother peasant revolutionaries to have ruled the world’s most populous nation.
Early Life
Orphaned as a teenager，he entered a Buddhist monastery to avoid starvation.
This is where he became literate，and at age 25 joined a rebel band，where his native ability soon brought him on top.Later，as a strong-willed rebel leader，he came in contact with the well-educated Confucian scholar gentry from whom he received an education in state affairs.He acquired training in the Red Turban Movement，which was a dissident religious sect combining cultural and religious traditions of Buddhism，Taoism，and others.No longer a Buddhist，he positioned himself as defender of Confucianism and neo-Confucian conventions and not as a popular rebel.Despite his humble origins，he emerged as a national leader against the collapsing Yuan Dynasty.
