In old China, the Chinese emperors did not number their years from one place. Instead, they gave names to eras (groups of years) any time they wanted. Some emperors made 10 or more eras while they led China. Zhu Yuanzhang started his era when he took Khanbaliq (now Beijing) from the Yuan emperor Toghon Temür in 1368. He said this was the 1st year of the "Very Warlike Era", which sounds like "Hóngwǔ" and is written in Chinese. He only had this one era when he was emperor, so people also called him the "Emperor of the Hongwu Era" or "Hóngwǔdì" ().