34. Imperial China’s Biggest Blast
Around 10 AM on the morning of May 30th, 1626, a plume of smoke rose above Beijing’s Wanggongchang Armory, followed soon thereafter by an immense explosion. Witnesses over a mile away heard a loud roaring rumble headed their way, followed by a giant dust cloud and tremors that shook houses. Then came a flash of light, followed by an enormous bang that “shattered the sky and crumbled the earth“. The disaster was shocking.
Huge trees were uprooted, and flew into the air to land on the other side of Beijing. A three-ton stone lion went sailing over the city walls. All that was left of the armory was a crater 21 feet deep, and everything within one and a half square miles was obliterated. The streets were reduced to jumbles of debris and rubble, littered with bodies and body parts. The Tianqi Emperor barely escaped with his life, while the only guard who stayed by his side amidst the panic was killed by a falling tile. The 7-month-old Crown Prince Zhu Cijong, the emperor’s only living heir, died from the blast’s shock.