The Wanggongchang Explosion ( zh, t=王恭廠大爆炸), also known as the Great Tianqi Explosion ( zh, t=天啟大爆炸, labels=no), Wanggongchang Calamity ( zh, t=王恭廠之變, labels=no) or Beijing Explosive Incident in the late Ming dynasty ( zh, t=晚明北京爆炸事件, labels=no), was a catastrophic

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

that occurred on May 30, 1626, during the late reign of

Tianqi Emperor The Tianqi Emperor (23 December 1605 – 30 September 1627), personal name Zhu Youjiao (), was the 16th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1620 to 1627. He was the eldest son of the Taichang Emperor and a elder brother of the Chongzhen ...

, at the heavily populated

Ming China The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

capital

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, and reportedly killed around 20,000 people. The epicenter was a major production center of gunpowder, but it is uncertain exactly what triggered the explosion.

Background

The Wanggongchang Armory was located about southwest of the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a Chinese palace, palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples includ ...

, in modern-day central

Xicheng District Xicheng District () is a district of Beijing. Xicheng District spans , covering the western half of the old city (largely inside the 2nd Ring Road - the eastern half is Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District), and has 706,691 inhabitant ...

. It was one of the six

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

factories administered by the Ministry of Works in the Beijing area, and also one of the main storage facilities of

armor Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s, bows, ammunition, and gunpowder for the

Shenjiying The Shenjiying (), which directly translates to "Divine Machine Battalion", was one of Ming dynasty's three elite military divisions stationed around Beijing collectively called the "Three Big Battalions" ( zh, t=三大營, p=Sān Dà Yíng, label ...

defending the capital. It was normally staffed by 70 to 80 personnel.

Explosion

The most detailed account of the explosion was from a contemporary

official gazette A government gazette (also known as an official gazette, official journal, official newspaper, official monitor or official bulletin) is a periodical publication that has been authorised to publish public or legal notices. It is usually establis ...

named ''Official Notice of Heavenly Calamity'' ( zh, t=天變邸抄, p=Tiānbiàn Dǐchāo). The explosion reportedly took place at '' Sì shi'' (between 9 and 11 o'clock) on the late morning of May 30, 1626. The sky was clear, but suddenly a loud "roaring" rumble was heard coming from northeast, gradually reaching southwest of the city, followed by

dust cloud Fugitive dust is an environmental air quality term for very small particles suspended in the air, primarily mineral dust that is sourced from the soil of Earth's pedosphere. A significant volume of fugitive dust that is visible from a distance i ...

s and shaking of houses. Then a bright streak of flash containing a "great light" followed and a huge bang that "shattered the sky and crumbled the earth" occurred, the sky turned dark, and everything within the 3–4 '' li'' (about 2 km or 1.2 miles) vicinity and a 13 square ''li'' (about 4 km² or 1.5 mi²) area was utterly obliterated. The streets were unrecognizable, littered with fragmented pieces and showered with falling

roof tile A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

s. The force of the explosion was so great that large trees were uprooted and found to be thrown as far as the rural

Miyun Miyun District () is situated in northeast Beijing. It has an area of and a population of 460,800 (2010 Census). Miyun District government seat is located in Gulou Subdistrict. History Miyun was one of the places where Warlord Feng Yuxiang s ...

on the opposite side of the city, and a 5,000-

catty The catty, kati or , pronounced as jin in Mandarin and gan in Cantonese, is a traditional Chinese unit of mass used across East and Southeast Asia, notably for weighing food and other groceries in some wet markets, street markets, and shops ...

(about 3

metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

s) stone lion was thrown over the city wall. The noise of the blast was heard as far as Tongzhou to the east,

Hexiwu Hexiwu Town (), formerly known as Ho-Hsi-Wu, is a Towns of China, town situated on the northern part of Wuqing District, Tianjin, China. It borders Yongledian and Anping, Xianghe County, Anping Towns to the north, Qiantun Township and Xiawuqi, X ...

to the south, and

and Changping to the north, and tremblings were felt over 150 km away in

Zunhua Zunhua () is a county-level city in the northeast of Hebei province, China, bordering Tianjin to the west. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Tangshan. Historic sites include the Eastern Qing Tombs (Qing Dongling). Ad ...

, Xuanhua,

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 cens ...

and Guangling. The ground around the immediate vicinity of Wanggongchang Armory, the

epicenter The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

of the explosion, had sunk for over 2 '' zhàngs'' (about 6.5 m or 21 feet), but there was a notable lack of fire damage. The clouds over the epicenter were also reported to be strange: some looked like messy strands of silk, some were multi-coloured, while some "looked like a black '' lingzhi''", rising into the sky and did not disperse until hours later. Several government officials in the city were killed, injured or went missing during the explosion, and some were reportedly buried alive in their own homes. The Minister of Works, Dong Kewei (), broke both arms and later had to retire from politics completely. The palaces in the Forbidden City were under renovation at the time, and over 2,000 workers were shaken off the roof and fell to their deaths. The

himself was having breakfast in Qianqing Palace when the explosion happened. After the initial quake most of the palace servants panicked, so the Emperor started running to the

Hall of Union The Hall of Union (; Manchu: ''giyoo tai diyan'') is a building in the Forbidden City, in Beijing, China. It stands between the Palace of Heavenly Purity and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. These three halls together constitute the centre of t ...

, followed only by a single guard who remained calm but was later killed by a falling tile. The Tianqi Emperor's only remaining heir, the 7-month-old Crown Prince Zhu Cijiong (), died from the shock.

Aftermath

The late Ming dynasty was already suffering domestic crisis from political corruption, factional conflicts, and repeated natural disasters (alleged by some historians to be due to the

Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Ma ...

) leading to peasant riots and rebellions, which also happened elsewhere globally as part of

the General Crisis The General Crisis is a term used by some historians to describe an alleged period of widespread global conflict and instability that occurred from the early 17th century to the early 18th century in Europe, and in more recent historiography in ...

. However, the horror of the Wanggongchang Explosion dwarfed all of those, and the imperial courts criticized the Tianqi Emperor and believed that the incident was a punishment from Heaven as a warning to correct the sins of the emperor's personal incompetence. Tianqi Emperor was forced to publicly announce a repenting edict, and issued 20,000

tael Tael (),"Tael" entry
at the

rescue and relief effort.

Sociopolitical impact

The Wanggong Armory Explosion can be considered a pivotal event in the early modern Chinese history, for multiple reasons. The destruction of the Wanggong Armory, one of the largest stockpiles and manufacturing facilities of firearm and ammunition, resulted in a hardware loss that the Ming military never recovered from. The gold issued for the relief effort put further strain on the Ming government budget, which was already suffering from ever increasing military expenditures in

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

against the Jurchen rebellion by

Nurhaci Nurhaci (14 May 1559 – 30 September 1626), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Qing (), was a Jurchen chieftain who rose to prominence in the late 16th century in Manchuria. A member of the House of Aisin-Gioro, he reigned ...

, as well as rampant

tax resistance Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the tax ...

by the

upper middle class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...

in the more affluent

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

. The superstitious belief that the incident was a heavenly punishment for the personal failing of the Tianqi Emperor (who was more interested in

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tr ...

than ruling the country) also further eroded the authority and public respect towards the Ming monarchy. Furthermore, the Wanggongchang Explosion resulted in the death of the Tianqi Emperor's only surviving son, Crown Prince Zhu Cijiong, leaving him heirless. Tianqi himself would die the following year, and his overambitious younger half-brother Prince

Zhu Youjian The Chongzhen Emperor (; 6 February 1611 – 25 April 1644), personal name Zhu Youjian (), courtesy name Deyue (),Wang Yuan (王源)，''Ju ye tang wen ji'' (《居業堂文集》), vol. 19. "聞之張景蔚親見烈皇帝神主題御諱字德� ...

inherited the throne as the

Chongzhen Emperor The Chongzhen Emperor (; 6 February 1611 – 25 April 1644), personal name Zhu Youjian (), courtesy name Deyue (),Wang Yuan (王源)，''Ju ye tang wen ji'' (《居業堂文集》), vol. 19. "聞之張景蔚親見烈皇帝神主題御諱字德� ...

. Chongzhen, who hated the powerful chief eunuch

Wei Zhongxian Wei Zhongxian (1568 – December 12, 1627), born Wei Si (魏四), was a Chinese court eunuch who lived in the late Ming dynasty. As a eunuch he used the name Li Jinzhong (李进忠). He is considered by most historians as the most notorious eunuc ...

intensely, soon purged Wei,John W. Dardess, ''Blood and History in China: The Donglin Faction and its Repression'' (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002), 154. which ironically removed a stabilizing factor within the Ming court. The factional infighting between the resurgent Donglin faction (who were previously persecuted brutally by Wei) and their various political opponents would then intensify during Chongzhen's reign, which, coupled with Chongzhen's own impatience and rash decisions, further accelerated the decline and eventual

fall of the Ming dynasty The transition from Ming to Qing, alternatively known as Ming–Qing transition or the Manchu conquest of China, from 1618 to 1683, saw the transition between two major dynasties in Chinese history. It was a decades-long conflict between the e ...

18 years later.

Possible causes

The cause of the explosion has never been conclusively determined. Although there are multiple sources of detailed historical records, the incident happened well before the proliferation of

modern science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Sc ...

in China, and contemporary interpretations are compounded with superstitious speculations. There were also suspicions that the official account might have been exaggerated with tints of

yellow journalism Yellow journalism and yellow press are American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news while instead using eye-catching headlines for increased sales. Techniques may include e ...

. Throughout the ages, various theories have been put forth, including

explosion,

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...

air burst An air burst or airburst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target. The principal military advantage of an air burst over ...

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

and

volcanic eruption Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often ...

. Despite some hypotheses being regarded as scientifically plausible, no academic consensus has been reached.

Gunpowder

Due to the epicenter of the disaster, the Wanggongchang Armory, being a military storage facility that "dispatches 3000 '' catties'' (about 1.8 metric tons) of gunpowder every five days", an accidental gunpowder ignition was blamed as the culprit from the very beginning. The cause has been suspected to be poor handling during manufacturing and transport,

electrostatic discharge Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a sudden and momentary flow of electric current between two electrically charged objects caused by contact, an short circuit, electrical short or dielectric breakdown. A buildup of static electricity can be caused ...

s or even sabotage by

Later Jin Later Jin may refer to two states in imperial China: * Later Jin (Five Dynasties) (後晉; 936–947), one of the Five Dynasties * Later Jin (1616–1636) (後金; 1616–1636), precursor to the Qing dynasty See also * Jin (disambiguation) Jin ...

spies, and sometimes cited as proof of the decline in the Ming government's administrative quality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanggongchang Explosion 1626 disasters 17th century in Beijing 17th-century explosions Explosions in China History of Beijing Disasters in Ming dynasty