June 28, 1626 Earthquake: Shanxi Province, China
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Shanxi Province, China on June 28, 1626. It killed 5,200 people.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- June 28, 1626
- Place
- Shanxi Province, China
- Magnitude
- 7.1 (Mw)
- Magnitude scales
- Mw 7.1 · Ms 7
- Intensity
- IX, violent shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 39.428° N, 114.203° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
Mw: moment magnitude, based on the slip on the fault and the area that slipped. Ms: surface-wave magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.
The toll
- Deaths
- 5,200
- Damage
- Extreme (about $25 million or more)
- Houses destroyed
- Very many (over 1,000)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
From Wikipedia
The 1626 Lingqiu earthquake had an epicentre in Lingqiu County, Shanxi Province during the Ming dynasty. The estimated surface wave magnitude (Ms) 7.0 earthquake caused many buildings to collapse. Over 5,200 people were killed.
Text from Wikipedia, “1626 Lingqiu earthquake”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted as written; the full article has the rest.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
June 28, 1626, Lingqiu, Shanxi Province, 39.4 N, 114.2 E, magnitude 7, intensity IX.
The city walls, memorial archways, Jueshan Temple,
official and civilian houses all collapsed. Black
water gushed out of dry wells. More than 5,200
people were killed. The earthquake did not stop
until a month or more later.
Hunyuan: Most city walls collapsed. 80-90%.
of the storehouses, government offices, military and
civilian houses collapsed. Many people were killed.
Battlements and walls collapsed for about 70m
long inside and outside the Wangjiazhuang fort.
Yuxian: City walls were dilapidated. Numerous official
and civilian houses collapsed, and many people
were killed. The ground fissured and water gushed out
Laiyuan: Three large fissures occurred on the city
walls.
The battlements of the east city walls all eollapsed,
Tangxian: More than halfcivilian houses collapsed.
Wanxlan: Countless houses collapsed. Many people
were killed.
Huailal: Civilian houses collapsed.
Zhuolu: Civilian houses collapsed,
Tongxian : Uncountable civilian houses collapsed.
Datong: Gate towers and city walls collapsed at 28
places.
Guoxian: City walls collapsed.
Hequ: Many civilian houses were damaged.
Beijing: Houses collapsed and innumerable people
were injured.
Felt area in record was very large, including:
Shanxi Province: Shanyin (former site), Shouyang,
Xiangyuan, Wuxiang, Guangling, Yushe, Pingding.
Hebei Province: Jixian, Dacheng, Xushul, Dingxing,
Rongcheng, Xiongxian, Tianjlng, Anguo, Shulu,
Anxin, Zhengding, Pingshan, Jinxian, Xinle
(former site), Yongnian, Jize, Handan, Shexian,
Cangxian, Nanpi, Ningjin, Longguan, Yangyuan,
Yixian, Longyao, Gaoyi, Zaoqiang, Jiaohe,
Fucheng,Jingxian, Raoyang, Wuyi, Quzhou, Hejian,
Xianxian, Renqiu, Suning, Gucheng, Xuanhua,
Baoding.
Shandong Province: Dezhou, Pingyuan, Shanghe,
Yangxin, Jiyang, Liaocheng, Jinan, Heae, Qufu,
Huimin.
Henan Province: There were One prefecture and six
counties (names not recorded) struck by shocks.
(above from reference #3939)
June 28, 1626, Shansi Province, 39.4 N, 114.2 E, magnitude 7, intensity IX. (reference #1052)
June 28, 1626, China (Chihli), Taming and Kuangping: (Shantung), Tungehang Fu; (Honan), Honan Fu; (Shansi), Pingyang, intensity III which corresponds to an earthquake which destroyed towns and devastated districts.
(reference #1055)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #3939 Gu Gongxu, Zhou Wenfu, and Wang Renlong (eds.) (1989). Catalogue of Chinese Earthquakes (1831 B.C. - 1969 A.D.). Science Press, Beijing, China; English translation by Li Zengquan et al. provided through UNESCO, 872 pages.
- #1052 Lee, W.H.K., F.T. Wu, and C. Jacobsen (1976). A Catalog of Historical Earthquakes in China Compiled from Recent Chinese Publications. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, vol. 66, no. 6, December 1976, p. 2003-2016.
- #1055 Milne, John (1911). Catalogue of Destructive Earthquakes [7 to 1899 A.D.], Report of the 81st Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Portsmouth, London, United Kingdom, p. 649-740.
- #1048 Academia Sinica (1970). Catalog of Chinese Earthquakes; vol. I (1177 BC to 1900 AD) and vol. II (1901 to 1949). Institute of Geophysics, Peking, China. [in Chinese]
- #14381 Yan X, Li Z, Sun X and You W (2026). Using the distribution characteristics of landslides to revise the parameters of the 1626 Lingqiu earthquake. Front. Earth Sci. 14:1786082. DOI: 10.3389/feart.2026.1786082
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- January 9, 1038, Dingxiang, Xinxian, Shaanxi Province, China
- 1057, Beijing, China
- May 21, 512, Yingxian, Shaanxi Province, China
- May 3, 1305, Huairen, Datong, Shanxi Province, China
- November 22, 1683, Shanxi Province, China
- September 30, 1730, Beijing, China
- September 294, Beijing, China
- January 10, 1998, Shangyi-Zhangbei, Hebei, Northeastern, China
- October 6, 1628, Hebei Province, China
- October 18, 1989, Shanxi and Hebei Provinces, Datong, China
- September 22, 1898, Shanxi Province, China
- December 2, 1882, Hebei Province, China
- January 26, 1911, Hebei Province, China
- November 1, 1999, Northeastern, Shanxi, China
- March 25, 1991, NE, Datong, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1626The 1600sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 905.