Earthquakes in China through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 333 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off China. 47 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.6 on August 15, 1950 (1950 Assam-Tibet Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 46 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 23 (18 km NNW of Yongning, China). The strongest: magnitude 7 on October 22 (191 km ENE of Nagqu, China).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: an estimated magnitude 8 on January 23, 1556 (Shaanxi Province), for which NOAA records 830,000 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 628 here, back to 194 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 292 of the events here, 2,141,308 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5 on May 17, 2026 (20 km NW of Liuzhou, China). NOAA’s record here begins in 194 BCE with an earthquake (Gansu Province: Lintao). It grows thinner going back: 352 of the 628 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 31 tsunamis that began in or off China, and 2 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 50 m, on June 15, 2007. NOAA lists one significant eruption of one volcano in or off China.
The events
- May 17, 2026Earthquake · M 5.020 km NW of Liuzhou, China · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- June 15, 2007Tsunami · 50 m hereDayantang, EnshiNOAA NCEI
- July 27, 1976Earthquake · M 7.517 km NE of Penguanzhuang, China · 242,769 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 15, 1950Earthquake · M 8.61950 Assam-Tibet Earthquake · 1,530 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 16, 1920Earthquake · M 7.9125 km E of Baiyin, China · 235,502 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 22, 1906Earthquake · M 8.095 km WSW of Shihezi, China · 280 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 25, 1668Earthquake · M 8.5 (est.)Shandong Province · 42,578 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- 1609EruptionTengchongNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 23, 1556Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)Shaanxi Province · 830,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- September 17, 1303Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)Shanxi ProvinceNOAA NCEI
- 194 BCEEarthquake · M 6.5 (est.)Gansu Province: LintaoNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for China when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where China is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around China, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history