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1350 CE
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1356 CE: Zhu Yuanzhang, leader of the rebel Red Turbans Movement and future Ming Hongwu Emperor, takes control of Nanjing.
1368 CE - 1398 CE: Reign of the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming Dynasty in China.
1368 CE - 1644 CE: Reign of the Ming Dynasty in China.
1368 CE: Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty, declares himself Emperor of China, taking the reign name Hongwu.
1370 CE: Civil service entrance examinations are reintroduced in China.
1371 CE - 1433 CE: Life of the great Chinese mariner and explorer Zheng He.
1398 CE - 1402 CE: Reign of the Jianwen Emperor of the Chinese Ming Dynasty.
1401 CE: Japan joins the tribute system of China's Ming Dynasty.
1403 CE - 1424 CE: Reign of the Yongle Emperor (aka Chengzu) of the Ming Dynasty.
1405 CE - 1433 CE: The mariner and explorer Zheng He makes seven voyages from China to India, Arabia and East Africa.
1407 CE: Work begins on the Forbidden City in Beijing.
1420 CE: The Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty establishes the Eastern Depot, a secret service branch of the state bureaucracy.
1421 CE: Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty moves the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing.
1424 CE: Death of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty while on campaign against the Mongols.
1472 CE - 1529 CE: Life of the Chinese philosopher Wang Yangming.
1557 CE: The Chinese Ming Dynasty grants the Portuguese a trading base of their own at Macao.
1557 CE: Ming dynasty forces capture the wako pirate chief Wang Chih.
1573 CE - 1620 CE: Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty reigns in China.
1598 CE: The popualr Chinese play The Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu is written.
1604 CE: The Donglin Academy is founded in Ming Dynasty China.
1628 CE - 1644 CE: Reign of Chongzhen, the last Ming Dynasty emperor.
1644 CE: A rebel army led by Li Zicheng attacks Beijing, the Ming Dynasty's capital.