On the seventeenth day of the sixth month in the seventh year of Kangxi’s reign, an earthquake struck. I was seated across from my cousin, sharing a drink under the lamplight, when suddenly a sound like rolling thunder erupted from outside, moving from the southeast toward the northwest.

The common folk were seized by terror and confusion, unable to fathom the cause.

Soon, the tables and chairs began to shake violently, wine cups overturned, and the beams and rafters of the house snapped one after another.

Everyone exchanged ashen glances and scrambled out in haste. What greeted them was a vast swath of collapsed towers and dwellings, punctuated by the ceaseless wails of children, creating a din like a boiling cauldron.

The very ground bucked and shuddered, leaving everyone dizzy and unable to stand; they tumbled to the earth, their bodies unable to cease their violent jolting and rolling. The river water surged and churned, breaching its banks by more than ten feet. The cries of chickens and barks of dogs completed the utter chaos engulfing the entire city.

An hour later, the tremors subsided. Men and women flooded the streets, gathering in bewildered crowds, their chatter revealing that their nerves were still frayed, their appearance utterly disheveled.

It was only later that the full extent of the devastation became known: many wells had been shattered, rendering them useless for drawing water; houses had collapsed, their north and south orientations strangely reversed; Qixia Mountain itself was rent asunder, split by a gigantic fissure; the Yi River plunged downward, collapsing into an abyss several mu deep—a truly astonishing upheaval.

Before the quake, a certain woman had risen in the night to use the privy. Upon returning, she found her child had been snatched by a wild wolf. She rushed forward, struggling fiercely to reclaim her son. In the ensuing battle, her clothing was bitten to shreds, prompting her to scream hysterically. Neighbors rushed over upon hearing the commotion, and the wolf, filled with frustration, retreated. The woman had saved her son’s life and was overcome with inexpressible joy, gesticulating wildly toward the sky and the earth as she recounted the ordeal, utterly oblivious to the fact that her own skin was exposed for all to see.