Today marks a big anniversary for fans of extra-terrestrial activity in Nanjing. It’s 130 years since that regarded as one of the biggest UFO sightings in Qing-Dynasty China. And it was captured too, in an exhilarating illustration by one of the foremost painters of the time.
Nanjing has its fair share of UFO sightings. But these days, they usually turn out to be a kite with flashing lights on it or overly-zealous authorities with their infrared surveillance drones keeping an eye on us.
Neither were the case 130 years ago today. For on 28 September, 1892, our city recorded China’s first-ever illustrated account over the appearance of an Unidentified Flying Object.
Painter, Wu Youru (吴友如), recorded the scene in his illustration, “Soaring Scarlet Flame in the Sky” (赤焰騰空), that went on to become invaluable to UFO researchers, noted That’s Mags yesterday.
The scene depicts a crowd assembled on Zhuque Bridge, near today’s Laomendong, from where they could have an unfettered view of the night sky and the fireball which caused so much concern.
Wu included a description of the scene on his illustration. The Chinese is replicated below, followed by an English translation.
“九月二十八日，晚间八点钟时，金陵城南，偶忽见火毯一团，自西向东，型如巨卵，色红而无光，飘荡半空，其行甚缓。维时浮云蔽空，天色昏暗。举头仰视，甚觉分明，立朱雀桥上，翘首踮足者不下数百人。约一炊许渐远渐减。有谓流星过境者，然星之驰也，瞬息即杳。此球自近而远，自有而无，甚属濡滞，则非星驰可知。有谓儿童放天灯者，是夜风暴向北吹，此球转向东去，则非天灯又可知。众口纷纷，穷于推测。有一叟云，是物初起时微觉有声，非静听不觉也，系由南门外腾越而来者。嘻，异矣！”
“At 20:00 on 28 September, a fireball appeared suddenly in the southern sky of Nanjing.
“Its shape resembled a gigantic egg and it travelled slowly from west to east. Clearly visible in the night sky, its colour was red, but it had no lustre. Hundreds of civilians stood on Zhuque Bridge, jostling for a good view, standing on tip-toe, craning their necks upward, while the fireball appeared to float slowly in the air.
“It lingered for the duration of a meal, fading little by little into the distance. Some said it was a meteor, but that would disappear in an instant. This ball’s movement, from its first appearance in the near sky to its final disappearance in the distance, was quite sluggish. It cannot have been a meteor.
“Others said it was a lantern kite that children flew. But the wind was blowing to the north that night while that object was heading east. So it cannot have been a lantern-kite either. For a while, everyone nattered, but no one could solve the mystery. None of the theories made sense.
“An elderly man said, ‘When it first arose, there was a slight noise which was hardly audible, like the buzzing approach of men darting across the South Gate. The sound was so soft that most people would have missed it’. He added that the object soared up into the sky from the southern outskirts of the city. It was so strange!”
If you are out and about this evening, be sure to glance skyward. Those visitors from 130 years ago might fancy coming back for the anniversary to see how things have changed. And what a surprise they’re in for.
