A beggar, an itinerant monk, leapt to greatness during a tumultuous epoch and went on to found the Ming Dynasty of China (1368A--1644).As a destitute peasant with nothing to lose, he started a local rebellion; success built on success. Defeating local warlords, Zhu Yuan Zhang conquered all the southern part of China, then sent his army north and took the rest.By unifying many Chinese lands, he brought peace and prosperity after a long period of tumult. He is honored with the temple name of Ming Taizu, "e;Grand Ancestor of Ming."e;

Hung Hing Ming is writing a series of biographies to introduce some of China's most emblematic historical figures and cultural motifs to the American public. Mr. Hung studied English at China's most prestigious university in the early 1960s and went on to work as an official interpreter and translator working with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He taught English at Zhongshan University (Dr. Sun Yat San University), Guangzhou, in 1984 and again from 1987 to 1991, as an associate professor and an instructor for graduate students in the Foreign Languages and Literature Department. He was a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley and at the University of Kansas from late 1984 to 1987, when he earned his Masters degree in linguistics, before returning to Zhongshan University. In 1991, Mr. Hung moved to Hong Kong where he worked for international law firms for close to 20 years.