Ming Dynasty Timeline

Zhu Yuanzhang, leader of the rebel Red Turbans Movement and future Ming Hongwu Emperor, takes control of Nanjing.

Reign of the Ming Dynasty in China.

Reign of the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming Dynasty in China.

Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty, declares himself Emperor of China, taking the reign name Hongwu.

Civil service entrance examinations are reintroduced in China.

Life of the great Chinese mariner and explorer Zheng He.

Reign of the Jianwen Emperor of the Chinese Ming Dynasty.

Japan joins the tribute system of China's Ming Dynasty.

Reign of the Yongle Emperor (aka Chengzu) of the Ming Dynasty.

The mariner and explorer Zheng He makes seven voyages from China to India, Arabia and East Africa.

Work begins on the Forbidden City in Beijing.

The Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty establishes the Eastern Depot, a secret service branch of the state bureaucracy.

Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty moves the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing.

Death of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty while on campaign against the Mongols.

Life of the Chinese philosopher Wang Yangming.

The Chinese Ming Dynasty grants the Portuguese a trading base of their own at Macao.

Ming dynasty forces capture the wako pirate chief Wang Chih.

Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty reigns in China.

The popualr Chinese play The Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu is written.

The Donglin Academy is founded in Ming Dynasty China.

Reign of Chongzhen, the last Ming Dynasty emperor.

A rebel army led by Li Zicheng attacks Beijing, the Ming Dynasty's capital.