Name：Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398)
Enthronement in 1368
Abdication in 1398
Zhu Yuanzhang was born in Fengyang of Anhui, and his era name was Hongwu(洪武). In August, 1368, the insurgent troops under the leadership of Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Da as well as Chang Yuchun occupied Beijing, the former capital of Yuan Dynasty, and it meant the perdition of Yuan Dynasty. In the same year, Zhu Yuanzhang was enthroned to be the Emperor in Nanjing, since then Ming Dynasty was established formally. Zhu Yuanzhang was Emperor Taizu and he died at the age of 71

Emperor Xuantong was born in 1906 and died in 1967 at the age of 61. His autobiography was My First Half Life. In 1912, he was forced to abdicate due to the success of Xinhai Revolution (辛亥革命, also known as the 1911 Revolution or the Chinese Revolution, began with the Wuchang Uprising on October 10, 1911 and ended with the abdication of Emperor Puyi on February 12, 1912. The primary parties to the conflict were the Imperial forces of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), and the revolutionary forces of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui). The revolution is so named because 1911 is a Xinhai Year in the sexagenary cycle of the Chinese calendar.) in 1931, he was held by Japanese invaders and went to Northeast of China and in 1932, he acted as the administrator of puppet state named Manzhougou(满洲国). After 1949, he acted as the member of the National Committee of CPPCC.

Emperor Guangxu was born in 1871, and his father was the seventh son of Emperor Daoguang and his mother was the sister of Cixi. He ruled China for 34 years and died at the age of 38. He fell in loved with a concubine named Zhenfei. He was also ambitious and wanted to change the bad condition of China. He supported Wuxu Reform(戊戌变法, was a failed 104-day national cultural, political and educational reform movement from 11 June to 21 September 1898, undertaken by the young Guangxu Emperor and his reform-minded supporters led by Kang Youwei.). But finally he failed and he was under house arrest. When Eight-Power Allied Forces occupied Beijing, he was carted off by Cixi. He died tragically.

Zaichun was born in 1856 and died at the age of 19; he just acted as Emperor 14 year. During his reign, relying on important officers such as Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang and so on, many farmer insurgences including The Rebellion of The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were conquered. And some new reforms were done. Of course, these things were unconnected with Emperor Kangxi. It was done by his mother Ci Xi, who was the actual ruler. He died of smallpox.

Empress Dowager Cixi（Reign Behind a Curtain，垂帘听政）

Empress Dowager Cixi1 (慈禧太后, 1835–1908), popularly known in China as the West Dowager Empress (西太后), was from the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan. She was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, ruling over China for 48 years from her husband's death in 1861 to her own death in 1908. Coming from an ordinary Manchu family and having been selected by the Xianfeng Emperor as a concubine, she exercised almost total control over the court under the nominal rule of her son the Tongzhi Emperor and her nephew the Guangxu Emperor, both of whom unsuccessfully attempted to rule in their own right. She was largely conservative during her rule and refused reform of the political system. Many historians considered her reign despotic, and attribute the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and therefore Imperial China, to Cixi's rule.

In 1856, the second Opium War broke out; the weakening government was forced to agree to the unequal treaties with many foreign powers. Under the influence of the Concubine Yi (懿貴妃, later the Empress Dowager Cixi), believed in Chinese superiority and would not agree to any colonial demands. He delegated Prince Gong for several negotiations that failed to solve any significant problems. On October 18, 1860, the western forces went on to loot and burn the Imperial Summer Palaces of Qingyiyuan(清漪园) and Yuanmingyuan(圆明园). He escaped to Chengde.

The Emperor Xianfeng (1831-1861) was the eighth Emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1850 to 1861. He was born in Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan garden. During his reign, the Qing Dynasty was weaker and weaker. The Rebellion of The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom broke out, and further set Nanjing as their headquarters to keep fighting against Qing dynasty. In the meantime, western invaders prepared to launch a new aggressive war.At such an atmosphere, Emperor Xianfeng put Zeng Guofan, who was an important officer of Han people, in the important position. 

Daoguang's decision was a blow to China's effort to halt the influx of opium and deepened the Europeans' resolution to enter the vast Chinese market which eventually led to the First Opium War against Britain. Technologically and militarily inferior to the European powers and hobbled by the incompetence of the Qing government, China lost this war and was forced to surrender Hong Kong at the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842. Henceforth, Daoguang became the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty to have lost a portion of its sovereign territories. This was his personal tragedy also China’s tragedy.

Opium had started to trickle into China during the reign of his great grandfather Emperor Yongzheng but was limited to approximately 200 boxes annually. By Emperor Qianlong's reign, the amount had increased to 1000 boxes, 4000 boxes by Jiaqing's era and more than 30,000 boxes during Daoguang's reign. He made many edicts against opium in the 1820s and 1830s, which were carried out by the famous Lin Zexu. Lin Zexu's effort to halt the spread of opium in China was quite successful, but, with the development of the First Opium War, Lin quickly fell out of favour and the Emperor Daoguang suddenly removed Lin's authority and banished him to Xinjiang.

Emperor Daoguang was the sixth Emperor since Manchu entered Shanhai Pass. He ruled China for thirty years died at the age of 69. In September 1820, the age of 38, Mianning inherited the throne after his father the Jiaqing Emperor suddenly died of unknown causes. Now known as the Emperor Daoguang, he inherited a declining empire with Western imperialism encroaching upon the doorsteps of China. During his reign, China experienced major problems with opium, which was imported into China by British merchants.