In the night of May 8, a severe thunderstorm hit the metropolis of Xi’an in Shaanxi, western China. Amidst the downpour and lightning, multiple residents captured video of an airborne “dragon-shaped” object in the skies above the ancient imperial capital, complete with a “dragon’s roar” resembling the low bellow of an ox.
Various state-run media outlets, such as Beijing Daily, reported on the sudden thunder and rainstorm that hit Xi’an. Videos posted to social media show a dark, elongated unidentified flying object (UFO) amidst the flashes lighting up the clouds; the “dragon” disappearing and reappearing intermittently.
Footage taken by a woman posting a social media account called “It’s Lina” appeared to capture a resonating roaring sound during the weather event.
In the video caption, the woman wrote: “Is this a ‘dragon’s roar’? It sounds like the bellow of an ox. There’s no construction going on around my home, and the sound came from the southern side of the Qinling Mountains. It was very deep. This 28-second recording doesn’t do it justice — this wasn’t made by any car or motorcycle. In person, it sounded vast and penetrating, as if it came from far away.”
Another internet user commented that the sound resembled that of a tiger’s roar, and caused their pet kitten to sit up in attention.
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Netizens offered various comments on the UFO footage. Many were in agreement that the videos posted were unedited, and that the sounds captured therein were not produced by cars, aircraft, or other machinery.
That same evening, in Ankang, a city about 100 miles south of Xi’an, another netizen captured footage of three “dragons” circling in the sky. Two of them were bright blue-green in color, moving through the night like a spinning Taiji symbol. Below them was a smaller black object that faded in and out of visibility.
Xi’an, a city of about 9 million, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. Located near the geographic center of modern China’s territory, Xi’an was known in ancient times as Chang’an (長安), meaning “eternal peace,” and served as the capital of most imperial dynasties from the Qin to Tang eras (221 BC to AD 907).
To the south of Xi’an lies the Qinling mountain range, which in traditional Chinese geomancy is said to be a critical “dragon’s vein” (龍脈) for the entire country.
