The Hongwu Emperor (Chinese: 洪武帝; Wade-Giles: Hung-wu Ti; October 21, 1328 – June 24, 1398), known variably by his given name Zhu Yuanzhang (Chinese: 朱元璋; Wade-Giles: Chu Yuan-chang) and by the temple name Taizu of the Ming (Chinese: 明太祖) 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, plagues and peasant revolts ...