The Hongwu Emperor (Hung-wu Ti; October 21, 1328 June 24, 1398), known variably by his given name Zhu Yuanzhang (Wade-Giles: Chu Yuan-chang) and by the temple Hongwu Emperor 3 name Taizu of the Ming was the founder and first emperor (1368 98) of the Ming Dynasty of China. His era name, Hongwu , means "great military power".In the middle of the 1300s, with famine and plagues and peasant revolts sweeping across China, Zhu became a leader of an army that conquered China, ending the Yuan Dynasty and forcing the Mongols to retreat to the Mongolian steppes. With his seizure of the Yuan capital Dadu (present-day Beijing), he claimed the Mandate of Heaven and established the Ming Dynasty in the year 1368.