<P> The Mongol - led Yuan dynasty (1279--1368) ruled before the establishment of the Ming dynasty . Alongside institutionalized ethnic discrimination against Han Chinese that stirred resentment and rebellion, other explanations for the Yuan's demise included overtaxing areas hard - hit by crop failure, 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 dikes of the Yellow River . </P> <P> A number of Han Chinese groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351 . The Red Turbans were affiliated with the Buddhist secret society of the White Lotus, which propagated Manichean beliefs in the struggle of good against evil and worship of the Maitreya Buddha . Zhu Yuanzhang was a penniless peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352, but soon gained a reputation after marrying the foster daughter of a rebel commander . In 1356 Zhu's rebel force captured the city of Nanjing, which he would later establish as the capital of the Ming dynasty . Zhu enlisted the aid of many able advisors, including the artillery specialists Jiao Yu and Liu Bowen . </P> <P> Zhu cemented his power in the south by eliminating his arch rival and rebel leader Chen Youliang in the Battle of Lake Poyang in 1363 . This battle was--in terms of personnel--one of the largest naval battles in history . After the dynastic head of the Red Turbans suspiciously died in 1367 while hosted as a guest of Zhu, the latter made his imperial ambitions known by sending an army toward the Yuan capital in 1368 . The last Yuan emperor fled north into Mongolia and Zhu declared the founding of the Ming dynasty after razing the Yuan palaces in Dadu (present - day Beijing) to the ground . </P> <P> Instead of the traditional way of naming a dynasty after the first ruler's home district, Zhu Yuanzhang's choice of' Ming' or' Brilliant' for his dynasty followed a Mongol precedent of an uplifting title . Zhu Yuanzhang also took' Hongwu', or' Vastly Martial' as his reign title . Although the White Lotus had fomented his rise to power, the emperor later denied that he had ever been a member of their organization and suppressed the religious movement after he became emperor . </P>

Who continued to threaten the ming dynasty and present the most challenges