Editing Ming dynasty (section)

==== Revolt and rebel rivalry ====
The [[Mongol]]-led [[Yuan dynasty]] (1271–1368) ruled before the establishment of the Ming. Explanations for the demise of the Yuan include institutionalized ethnic discrimination against the [[Han people]] that stirred resentment and rebellion, overtaxation of areas hard-hit by [[inflation]], and massive flooding of the [[Yellow River]] as a result of the abandonment of irrigation projects. Consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles, and rebellion broke out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on repairing the [[Levee|levees]] of the Yellow River.{{sfnp|Gascoigne|2003|p=150}} A number of Han groups revolted, including the [[Red Turban Rebellion|Red Turbans]] in 1351. The Red Turbans were affiliated with the [[White Lotus Societies|White Lotus]], a [[Chinese Buddhism|Buddhist]] secret society. [[Zhu Yuanzhang]] was a penniless peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352; he soon gained a reputation after marrying the foster daughter of a rebel commander.{{sfnp|Ebrey|1999|pp=190–191}} In 1356, Zhu's rebel force captured the city of [[Nanjing]],{{sfnp|Gascoigne|2003|p=151}} which he would later establish as the capital of the Ming dynasty.

With the Yuan dynasty crumbling, competing rebel groups began fighting for control of the country and thus the right to establish a new dynasty. In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated his archrival and leader of the rebel Han faction, [[Chen Youliang]], in the [[Battle of Lake Poyang]], arguably the [[largest naval battle in history]]. Known for its ambitious use of [[fire ships]], Zhu's force of 200,000 Ming sailors were able to defeat a Han rebel force over triple their size, claimed to be 650,000-strong. The victory destroyed the last opposing rebel faction, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang in uncontested control of the bountiful [[Yangtze]] valley and cementing his power in the south. After the dynastic head of the Red Turbans suspiciously died in 1367 while a guest of Zhu, there was no one left who was remotely capable of contesting his march to the throne, and he made his imperial ambitions known by sending an army toward the Yuan capital [[Khanbaliq|Dadu]] (present-day [[Beijing]]) in 1368.{{sfnp|Ebrey|1999|p=191}} The last Yuan emperor fled north to the upper capital [[Shangdu]], and Zhu declared the founding of the Ming dynasty after razing the Yuan palaces in Dadu to the ground;{{sfnp|Ebrey|1999|p=191}} the city was renamed Beiping in the same year.{{sfnp|Naquin|2000|p=xxxiii}} Zhu Yuanzhang took Hongwu, or "Vastly Martial", as his [[Chinese era name|era name]].