16. A Catastrophe That Killed a Crown Prince, and Nearly Killed an Emperor
The Great Tianqi Explosion was preceded by a plume of smoke, which witnesses saw rising above Beijing’s Wanggongchang Armory around 10 AM on the morning of May 30th, 1626. It was followed a short while later by an immense explosion. People 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, in the words of a contemporary witness: “shattered the sky and crumbled the earth“. The destruction was shocking.
The blast was so powerful that it sent a three-ton stone lion went sailing over the city walls. Huge trees were uprooted, flew into the air, and landed on the other side of Beijing. All that was left of the armory was a 21-foot-deep crater, and everything within one and a half square miles were destroyed. 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 seven-month-old Crown Prince Zhu Cijong, the emperor’s only living heir, died from the blast’s shock.
