A quiz question · hard
What exploded in Beijing on 30 May 1626, devastating two square kilometres of the Ming capital?
The traditional toll is around 20,000 dead and injured; the emperor's infant heir died in the aftermath. It ranks among history's deadliest accidental explosions.
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The Wanggongchang Explosion of 30 May 1626, When a Gunpowder Works Levelled a Quarter of Beijing On the morning of 30 May 1626 the Wanggongchang Armoury — a major gunpowder works inside Beijing — detonated, devastating roughly two square kilometres of the capital and killing a reported 20,000 people. The emperor's infant heir died in the aftermath; contemporary accounts are so strange that theories still multiply around one of the largest accidental explosions of the pre-industrial world.
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