March 23, 1827 Earthquake: Shanxi Province, China
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Shanxi Province, China on March 23, 1827. It killed 84 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
- March 23, 1827
- Place
- Shanxi Province, China
- Magnitude
- 5.3 (Ms)
- Intensity
- VII, very strong shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 34.900° N, 111.100° E
- Country
- China
- Region
- East Asia
The toll
- Deaths
- 84
- Injuries
- Some (about 51 to 100)
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 55
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.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
March 23, 1827, Pinlu, Shanxi Province, 34.9 N, 111.1 E, magnitude 5.25, intensity VI-VII.
55 cave dwellings in 33 villages to the south of Dongxiangpan collapsed. 84 people were killed and
some injured.
Shamdan: The earth shook violently causing a number
of injuries.
Yuxiang: The earthquake also struck Huixian, Yuxian and Linru in Henan Province; Qingjin in Shaanxi Province.
(above from reference #3939)
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #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]
- #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.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- January 23, 1556, Shaanxi Province, China
- May 18, 1695, Linfen, Shanxi Province, China
- October 23, 1815, Shanxi Province, China
- December 4, 1209, Fushan, Shaanxi Province, China
- January 19, 1501, Chaoyi, Shaanxi Province, China
- May 15, 1568, Xian, Shaanxi Province, China
- August 25, 1291, Shaanxi Province, China
- April 30, 1000, Shaanxi Province, China
- September 12, 649, Linfen, Shaanxi Province, China
- June 30, 1642, Shanxi Province, China
- October 16, 1505, Anyi, Gueheng, Shanxi Province, China
- January 12, 1965, Shanxi Province, China
- September 1, 1964, Shanxi Province, China
- December 23, 1862, Shanxi Province, China
- August 10, 1959, Shaanxi Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1827The 1800sRecent 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 1701.