Directed by Feng Xiaoning and starring Hu Jun as the Hongwu emperor, the series was first aired on CCTV in China in 2006.

To give his parents a proper funeral, Zhu becomes a novice monk at a local monastery and spends part of his childhood there.

One day, he encounters Yuan soldiers and narrowly escapes death, but is captured by some rebels, who suspect that he is a spy and want to kill him.

He implemented land reforms to prevent peasants from being abused by wealthy landlords and bureaucrats; harshly punished officials found guilty of corruption; drafted the Code of the Great Ming; introduced policies to help the country recover from the effects of war.

However, he also used ruthless and brutal means to consolidate power: he killed some of his subjects who had contributed greatly to the founding of his empire for fear that they would rebel against him.