Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report 

Video Credit: AsiaWire

These stunning images seen more than eight million times online show ‘dream-like’ light pillars – dubbed China’s Northern Lights – forming above the skyline of a frozen city.

Footage from the city of Genhe, which is in Hulunbuir in China’s northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, shows vertical beams of light rising high above buildings into the night sky.

The mesmerising phenomenon known as light pillars is caused by a light source, such as street lamps or even the Moon, reflecting off ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.

Residents who spotted the beautiful natural display recorded videos and snapped pictures of the unusual spectacle on the evening of 28th November.

The images show light pillars being illuminated in various colours as a result of different ambient light sources such as shop signs.

According to the Inner Mongolia Meteorological Bureau, the light pillars were seen as temperatures reached a low of minus 26.9 degrees Celsius, and when relative humidity was at 78 percent.

The phenomenon, which is known as a sun or solar pillar in the day, is mostly visible in China’s colder northern regions.

Social media users have dubbed the sight ‘China’s northern lights’.

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