Historical earthquake investigation and research in China

Abstract

China is one of the countries with the longest tradition of culture and has suffered many earthquake disasters, so many earthquake documents have therefore been conserved. In this paper we try to outline some basic information of historical earthquake investigation and research in China, such as collection of historical earthquake data from archives, historical earthquake catalogues, seismic intensity scales. We introduce briefly the huge accomplishments of historical research and discuss some problems encountered. Through examples, we illustrate the solutions to some typical problems. There are some suggestions on further work.