An English treatise ( anonymous ) on " '' Blazing Stares '' " ( 1618 ) speaks of the comet as follows : The Portuguese Dominican friar Gaspar da Cruz , who visited Guangzhou in 1556 , associated the comet with the devastating 1556 Shaanxi earthquake . In his 1569 book he wondered if the comet was a sign of calamities not just for China , but for the entire world – and could be even the sign of the birth of Antichrist
1556 Shaanxi earthquake
1556 Shaanxi earthquake
Great Comet of 1556