1892 Nanjing China Hundreds Witness a Strange Red Object Hovering in the Sky 赤焰腾空

In 1892 during the late Qing dynasty an unusual aerial phenomenon was witnessed by a large number of people in the city of Nanjing China. Unlike most ancient sky sightings this event was not only written about but also illustrated at the time by a professional artist known for documenting real events.

On the evening of the 28th day of the ninth lunar month at around eight o’clock residents noticed a strange glowing object in the night sky. Contemporary descriptions say it looked like a bright red fiery mass hanging above the city.

It did not behave like a meteor. It did not streak across the sky or disappear quickly. Instead it remained visible long enough for crowds to gather in the streets and courtyards to observe it together.

People reportedly pointed at the object and discussed what it could be as it hovered above rooftops and temple buildings. The light was intense and clearly visible across a wide area which is why so many witnesses were present. There is no record of sound explosions smoke or falling debris associated with the event.

What makes this case stand out historically is that it was visually recorded by Wu Youru a well known illustrator of the time. Wu Youru worked in a news style format and regularly created images documenting floods fires public incidents and unusual events. He produced a woodblock style painting of the sighting titled Chi Yan Teng Kong which translates to Red Flame Soaring to the Sky.

The illustration shows a glowing red object suspended in the sky while dozens of people below look upward pointing and reacting to what they see. The scene is drawn realistically rather than symbolically and resembles a moment frozen from daily life rather than mythology. An inscription on the artwork gives the date time and location of the event and states that the phenomenon was widely witnessed and discussed by the people of Nanjing.

No explanation was offered at the time for what the object was. It was not identified as a comet star or known atmospheric event. Modern explanations have suggested things like rare fireballs or atmospheric effects but none fully explain why the object appeared stationary or why it lingered long enough for a crowd to calmly observe it.

The original artwork still exists and is preserved in museum collections with public domain reproductions available online including on Wikimedia Commons. Because it was created in the nineteenth century it is no longer under copyright.

Whether this event was a misunderstood natural phenomenon or something genuinely unexplained the Nanjing red flame incident remains one of the earliest known cases where an unidentified object in the sky was witnessed by many people recorded with a specific date and location and illustrated at the time rather than reconstructed centuries later.