Toghon Temür

Toghon Temür (Mongolian: Тогоон Төмөр, romanized: Togoon Tömör; simplified Chinese: 妥懽帖睦尔; traditional Chinese: 妥懽帖睦爾; pinyin: Tuǒhuān Tiēmù'ěr; 25 May 1320 – 23 May 1370), also known by his temple name as Emperor Huizong of Yuan and by his posthumous name as Emperor Shun of Yuan, was the last emperor of the Yuan dynasty and the first emperor of the Northern Yuan dynasty. He was a son of Kusala (Emperor Mingzong).

Toghon Temür acceded to the throne in 1333 after years of succession disputes following his father's death. His early reign was dominated by powerful ministers, first El Temür and then Bayan, until he engineered Bayan's removal in 1340 with the help of Toqto'a. Toqto'a's first administration (1340–1344) oversaw the completion of the official histories of the Liao, Jin, and Song dynasties. During the latter part of his reign, widespread natural disasters and fiscal crises fuelled popular unrest, culminating in the Red Turban Rebellion of 1351. After the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming dynasty and captured Khanbaliq in 1368, Toghon Temür retreated to the Mongolian steppe. The remnant court, conventionally called the Northern Yuan, continued to claim the title of Emperor of China. Toghon Temür died at Yingchang in 1370 and was succeeded by his son Biligtü Khan Ayushiridara.

He was a patron of Tibetan Buddhism, studying under successive Karmapas of the Karma Kagyu school. He also invited the Jonang scholar Dölpopa Shérab Gyeltsen to teach at his court, but Dölpopa declined.