UNEXPLAINEDCRAFT · PRINTS & COINS
The Red Flame over Nanjing
1892 · Nanjing · China
WHAT IT IS
A crowd on a bridge watches a glowing ball drift slowly over Nanjing. The artist's own caption rules out the two things it might have been.
THE ALIEN READING
A genuine contemporary news picture of an object seen by hundreds. Wu Youru noted it moved against the wind, so it was not a kite-lantern, and too slowly for a meteor.
WHAT THE RECORD SAYS
No modern identification has been made. A fire balloon or a slow bolide are the candidates usually offered, but nothing in the record settles it.
WHERE IT STANDS
Unexplained. No accepted account of what it shows yet.
STATUS IS OUR CURRENT ASSESSMENT, NOT A VERDICT · REVIEWED 3 OCT 2026
THE RECORD
- DATE
- 1892
- PLACE
- Nanjing · China
- MADE BY
- Wu Youru
- MEDIUM
- Prints & coins
- TECHNICAL
- News illustration · Qing dynasty · published in Shanghai
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