china virtual museums

Ruins after the earthquake in Tancheng (1668)

　　Date：July 25, 1668, June 17 in the seventh year under Emperor Kangxi
　　Epicenter:Tancheng, Shandong
　　Level：8 1/2 magnitude

Tombstones cracked in Zhou Village
in Lu County, Shandong

　　Details：
　　Earthquakes happened simultaneously in Provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejinag, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Fujian and Korea, among which Tancheng, Yi County and Lu County in Shandong Province were destroyed most seriously. In an area of over 50 square km, there were 150 districts and counties damaged at different levels. In an area with a radius of over 800 square km, people could have a sense of shock. In the central area of the earthquake, cities, mansions, residences and temples were ruined in a few minutes.

Tombstone of Wang Jing cracked
in Baichang Village in the south
of Lu County, Shandongg

　　The whole city of Tancheng was leveled to the ground. No houses survived the earthquake within an area of 50 km. During the earthquake happened landslides and cracks, cave- in, sand boils and watersprouts. It seemed like a boat turned upside down at the time. 50,000 people were killed. The corpses were too many to be buried in the tombs. In the villages, the bad smells and stinks spread wide. Rainstorms and the scorching sun struck the village continuously, resulting in wide-spread plagues. People become homeless consequently. The compulsory taxes were relieved more or less in 40 districts and counties, silver currency 227300 Liang in amount. The central government also sent officials to organize the rescues after the earthquake.

An inscription to the
Rebuilding of Two Saint
Hall in Kong Temple
in Qufu, Shandong

A Preface to the Rebuilding of Three Saint Hall
“The earthquake in June in the seventh year under Emperor Kangshi (1668 A.D. in Qing Dynasty) lasted more than one hundred days. At the beginning of the earthquake, springs came out of the ground and water sprouted out from the deep wells. Nine the tenth of the houses collapsed. Temples collapsed, the statues of the Saints cracked.”
by Sun Shangbin, mid-autumn in the eighth year under Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty