Earliest historical records of typhoons in China

Abstract

Based on an original survey and a critical evaluation of the Chinese historical and scientific literature, this paper ascertains that by as early as the fifth century AD, the typhoon had been recognized by the people of southern China as a distinct meteorological phenomenon. A specific term, ju or jufeng, was accordingly coined, with rather accurate specifications given to it. A typhoon that struck the coastal city of Mizhou in Shandong Province of northern China in AD 816 is the earliest recorded tropical cyclone landfall in China, and perhaps also in the world. The typhoon as a weather phenomenon was frequently mentioned, described, and discussed in many works, including history books, poems and government documents, in the ninth century AD. Such a societal understanding of typhoons made an accurate report of typhoon landfall in AD 816 possible. Another typhoon that struck Qingyuan County in central Guangdong Province in AD 819 was encountered by a leading scholar who described it in his poem. This is the second earliest typhoon landfall recorded in China.