On this day 359 years ago, on September 2, 1666 (August 4, 1666 lunar calendar), the Great Fire of London. In 1665 (the fourth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty), the bubonic plague (the Black Death) ravaged the whole of Europe, killing more than 60,000 people in London alone. The British royal family fled London to live in Oxford temporarily. The city's rich and powerful fled one after another. There were more than 10,000 abandoned houses in London. At 1 am on September 2, 1666, Thomas Ferrylau, a baker in Pudding Lane, London, started a fire because he forgot to put out his oven. Pudding Lane is located in the crowded old city slum of London, and the fire spread rapidly. The fire burned for four full days, destroying one-sixth of London's buildings, including 87 churches, 44 companies and 13,200 homes. Fortunately, the fire killed a large number of rats hiding in the slums, which greatly relieved the plague. At the same time, the reconstruction of London strongly stimulated the domestic economy and improved the city's appearance and sanitation. On October 1, 1666, the architect Sir Wren proposed a plan for the reconstruction of London after the disaster. Including St. Paul's Cathedral, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, Greenwich Observatory, the Royal Exchange, etc. These projects began to accelerate the economic development of England. The Great Fire of London This anonymous oil painting of "The Great Fire of London" depicts the fire seen from September 4, 1666, near the Tower of London Quay. On the right is the Tower of London, on the left is London Bridge, and the distant St. Paul's Cathedral is surrounded by tongues of fire. Ferrilau was suspected of arson and was eventually hanged. [ When the Ming Dynasty fell in 1643, the plague occurred in Beijing, killing about 200,000 people and about 10 million people in the country. When the Qing Dynasty fell in 1911, the plague occurred in the northeast, killing 60,000 people.]