''Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty'' is a Chinese television series based on the life of

Zhu Yuanzhang The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts in ...

, the founding emperor of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. Directed by

Feng Xiaoning Feng Xiaoning () (born 1954) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. He is considered a member of the "Fifth Generation" Chinese directors who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982. Feng however graduated from t ...

and starring

Hu Jun Hu Jun (born March 18, 1968) is a Chinese actor best known for playing dramatic roles in various films and television series. He has acted in a number of Hong Kong films. Biography Hu Jun was born on March 18, 1968, to Wang Yiman (), a drama ac ...

as the emperor, the series was first aired on

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

in China in 2006.

Plot

Turmoil engulfs China in the final years of the Mongol-ruled

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

as the government degenerates into corruption while rebel forces sprout throughout the land to overthrow the Yuan regime. Somewhere in the wilderness, Zhu Chongba, a young cowherd, stands on a huge rock and proclaims to his friends, "I, Emperor Zhu, will reward each of you with a large piece of rice cake when I ascend the throne one day!" Around the same time, his parents died of starvation at home. To give his parents a proper funeral, Zhu becomes a novice monk at a local monastery and spends part of his childhood there. A few years later, the monastery is destroyed so he has no choice but to become a beggar. One day, he encounters Yuan soldiers and narrowly escapes death, but is captured by some rebels, who suspect that he is a spy and want to kill him. At this critical moment, he is saved by a girl, and he joins Guo Zixing's rebel army later. Zhu Chongba proves his capability on the battlefield and wins the favour of Guo Zixing. Guo gives Zhu Chongba a new name, "Yuanzhang", and arranges for his goddaughter, Lady Ma, to marry Zhu. From then on, Zhu Yuanzhang starts his journey towards becoming an emperor. He earns the support of talented men, such as

Xu Da Xu Da (1332–1385), courtesy name Tiande, was a Chinese military general and politician who lived in the late Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty. He was a friend of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder and first ruler of the Ming dynasty, and assist ...

Chang Yuchun Chang Yuchun (1330 – 9 August 1369), courtesy name Boren and art name Yanheng, was a Chinese military general of the Ming dynasty. He was a follower of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, and contributed heavily to the est ...

, Lan Yu,

Li Shanchang Li Shanchang (; 1314–1390) was a Chinese politician of the Ming dynasty, part of the West Huai (Huaixi) faction, and Duke of Han, one of the six founding dukes of the Ming Dynasty in 1370. Li Shanchang was one of Emperor Hongwu's associates durin ...

and

Liu Bowen Liu Ji (1 July 1311 – 16 May 1375),Jiang, Yonglin. Jiang Yonglin. 005(2005). The Great Ming Code: 大明律. University of Washington Press. , 9780295984490. Page xxxv. The source is used to cover the year only. courtesy name Bowen, better kn ...

, triumphs over his nemesis

Chen Youliang Chen Youliang (陳友諒; 1320 – 3 October 1363For those cross-referencing the Mingshi, in the old Chinese calendar 至正二十三年 refers to the year 1363 CE, 七月二十日 refers to 8月29日 or 29 August, and 八月二十六日 re ...

at the

Battle of Lake Poyang The Battle of Lake Poyang () was a naval conflict which took place (30 August – 4 October 1363) between the rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang during the Red Turban Rebellion which led to the fall of the Yuan dynasty. Chen Youlian ...

, overthrows the Yuan Dynasty, and finally establishes the

. Zhu Yuanzhang initiated a beginning for a golden era of China under the reigns of his successors. He implemented land reforms to prevent peasants from being abused by wealthy landlords and bureaucrats; harshly punished officials found guilty of corruption; drafted the ''Code of the Great Ming''; introduced policies to help the country recover from the effects of war. However, he also used ruthless and brutal means to consolidate power: he killed some of his subjects who had contributed greatly to the founding of his empire for fear that they would rebel against him.

Cast

** Zhou Ti as Zhu Yuanzhang (teenager) * Ju Xue as Empress Ma * Yin Guohua as

Hu Weiyong Hu Weiyong (; died 1380) was a Chinese politician and the last chancellor of the Ming dynasty, from 1373 to 1380. Hu was a main member of Huaixi meritorious group. He was later accused of attempting to rebel and was thus executed by the Hongwu Em ...

* Zheng Xiaoning as

* Chen Changhai as Li Shanchang * Ebusi Yonglin as

* Yang Hongwu as Tang He * Hou Xiangling as

Zhu Biao Zhu Biao (; 10 October 1355 17 May 1392) was the Hongwu Emperor's eldest son and crown prince of the Ming dynasty. His early death created a crisis in the dynasty's first succession that was resolved by the successful usurpation of his brother ...

* Zhou Zhengbo as Yang Xian * Qian Yifei as

Song Lian Song Lian (; 1310–1381), courtesy name Jinglian (), was a Chinese historian and politician of the Ming dynasty. He was a literary and political advisor to the Hongwu Emperor. Before that, he was one of the principal figures in the Yuan dyn ...

* Xu Shouxin as Lü Xu * Zeng Ang as Lan Yu * Li Haifeng as

* Yao Changjiang as Erhu *

Bobo Gan Gan Tingting (; born 5 February 1986), also known as Bobo Gan, is a Chinese actress. Gan is noted for her performance in the Vietnam-China movie ''Hanoi, Hanoi'', for which she won Best Actress award at the Golden Kite Awards. She is also known ...

as Yu'er * Chen Ming as Liu Lian * Wang Yuzhang as Guo Zixing * Lü Yiding as Guo Tianxu * Bao Depan as Sun Deya * Li Ming as

* Yao Yuxing as Chen Li * Gao Huailiang as

Zhang Shicheng Zhang Shicheng (; 1321－1367), born Zhang Jiusi (), was one of the leaders of the Red Turban Rebellion in the late Yuan dynasty of China. Later, he established the ''Da Zhou'' (大周) kingdom with reigning name "Tianyou" (). Early life Zhang S ...

* Li Jieni as Han Lin'er *

Tu Men Tu Men (February 1960 – 12 December 2021) was a Chinese actor of Evenks ethnicity. Career Tu is known for his portrayals of Genghis Khan in films such as ''Genghis Khan'' and '' An End to Killing''. In 2018 he was at the center of a political ...

as Toqto'a * Liu Dong as Dahu * Zhou Yang as Li Jin * Zheng Jie as Wu Feng * Ren Suyun as Ma Sandao * Ran Weiqun as Lu Mingyi * Gao Sen as Master Peng * Yang Si as Qian'er *

Zhang Xueying Zhang Xueying (; born 18 June 1997), also known as Sophie Zhang, is a Chinese actress. Zhang is regarded as one of the " New Four Dan actresses of the post-95s Generation" (), along with Zhang Zifeng, Vicky Chen and Guan Xiaotong. Career In 20 ...

as Qing'er (Xiaoqing) * Zhou Junhao as

Zhu Yunwen The Jianwen Emperor (5 December 1377 – ?), personal name Zhu Yunwen (), was the second List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1398 to 1402. The Chinese era name, era name of his reign, Jianwen (era) ...

* Qian Lin as

Zhu Di The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424. Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyna ...

Releases

The series was released in Japan under the title 大明帝国朱元璋 in a three box DVD set.

External links

*
''Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty''
on

Sina.com Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' South ...

*
''Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty''
on xinhuanet.com *

*
''Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty'' official website
on Chinese Drama Legend {{DEFAULTSORT:Founding Emperor of Ming Dynasty 2006 Chinese television series debuts Television series set in the Yuan dynasty Television series set in the Ming dynasty Television shows about rebels Mandarin-language television shows China Central Television original programming Chinese historical television series Television series set in the 14th century Television shows written by Zhu Sujin

Plot

Cast

Releases

See also

External links