Rivalry among the Mongol imperial heirs, natural disasters, and numerous peasant uprisings led to the collapse of the Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang, a Han Chinese peasant and former Buddhist monk turned rebel army leader. Having its capital first at Nanjing (which means Southern Capital) and later at Beijing (the current capital of China), the Ming reached the zenith of power during the first quarter of the fifteenth century. the Ming rulers, learning from their brutal predecessors, ruled with an iron hand. The bodies of chastised officials were sometimes left in their office to remind the new officialsof the need to be honest and just in governing. During the dynasty, the people were largely at peace and prospering. The militery power was also strong shown by the fact that they reconquered Annam, as northern Vietnam was then known, in Southeast Asia and kept back the Mongols.

            The Chinese fleet sailed the China seas and the Indian Ocean, cruising as far as the east coast of Africa. The maritime Asian nations sent envoys with tribute for the Chinese emperor.The most famous traveller in he Ming dynasty would be Zhenghe, the Sanbao Taijian(sanbao eunuch)  Internally, the Grand Canal was expanded to its farthest limits and proved to be a stimulus to domestic trade.

            The Ming maritime expeditions stopped rather suddenly after 1433, the date of the last voyage. Historians have given as one of the reasons the great expense of large-scale expeditions at a time of preoccupation with northern defenses against the Mongols. Opposition at court also may have been a contributing factor, as conservative officials found the concept of expansion and commercial ventures alien to Chinese ideas of government. Pressure from the powerful Neo-Confucian bureaucracy led to a revival of strict agrarian-centered society. The stability of the Ming dynasty, which was without major disruptions of the population (then around 100 million), economy, arts, society, or politics, promoted a belief among the Chinese that they had achieved the most satisfactory civilization on earth and that nothing foreign was needed or welcome.

            Long wars with the Mongols, incursions by the Japanese into Korea, and harassment of Chinese coastal cities by the Japanese in the sixteenth century weakened Ming rule, which became, as earlier Chinese dynasties had, ripe for an alien takeover. In 1644 the Manchus, led by Nurachi, took Beijing from the north and became masters of north China, establishing the last imperial dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911).
 
 

The background picture(if it appears)is of Taizu, one of the Ming emeprors.