From the Mongols to the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Yuan Zhang broke out of a desperate life of poverty to reach the heights, using his intelligence, strength and integrity to win a new opportunity, a bigger battle, a more powerful position at every turn. Building a local rebellion into a great fighting force, he crushed the Yuan Dynasty, where the Mongols ruled, and brought together a large and powerful nation, earning his reign the honorific name "Hongwu." The Ming Dynasty was a brilliant stretch of three centuries of native Chinese rule, d