Zhu Yuanzhang (October 21, 1328–June 24, 1398), originally named Zhu Chongba and styled Guorui, was born in Zhongli, Haozhou (present-day Fengyang, Anhui). He was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty. His temple name was Taizu, and his posthumous title was “Emperor Gao, Great Sage, Utmost Divine, Benevolent, Cultured, Righteous, Martial, Handsome, Virtuous, Accomplished, and Exalted, Who Opened Heaven, Followed the Way, and Established the Foundations of the Age.” He was buried at the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.
Born into a poor farming family, Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk at Huangjue Temple after a famine. At the age of 25, in 1352, he joined the Red Turban forces in their rebellion against the Mongol Yuan regime. He defeated numerous warlords in succession, unified the south, then marched north to overthrow the Yuan and establish the Ming dynasty, adopting the reign title Hongwu. During his reign, social production gradually recovered and developed, an era known as the “Hongwu Restoration.” Zhu Yuanzhang died in 1398, the thirty-first year of Hongwu, at the age of 71.
