Hongwu Emperor

The Hongwu Emperor, born Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398), was the founder and first emperor of China's Ming dynasty, reigning from 1368 until his death. Born into a poor peasant family and orphaned young, he rose through the ranks of a rebel movement against the collapsing Mongol Yuan dynasty to become its leading commander, ultimately capturing the Yuan capital and proclaiming a new dynasty in 1368. As emperor he rebuilt China's administrative and legal systems, restored Han Chinese rule after nearly a century of Mongol governance, and centralized imperial power through often brutal purges of rivals and officials, establishing patterns of governance that shaped the Ming dynasty for the rest of its nearly three-century existence.