So many you can predict them — Xinjiang’s “City of Rainbows” sees over a hundred rainbows in half a year

Every July, around one million mu of rapeseed flowers bloom in Zhaosu County, Xinjiang, attracting tourists from all over. (Xinhua News Agency)

If seeing a rainbow after wind and rain is considered lucky, then Xinjiang’s “City of Rainbows” is a mountain town enveloped in good fortune. Surrounded by mountains and blessed with abundant rainfall, Zhaosu County in Yili, Xinjiang, is the busiest and most popular tourist season in spring, summer and autumn — and also the time when rainbows are most likely to appear. Double rainbows and even triple rainbows often streak across the sky.

Zhaosu in Xinjiang is one of the birthplaces of the Wusun culture and boasts rich natural and tourism resources. It is also known as the “Hometown of Rapeseed” and the “Hometown of Heavenly Horses.” Its mountain basin terrain results in ample rainfall, making the likelihood of rainbows appearing here higher than in other regions, hence earning it the title “City of Rainbows.” Summer is the season when rainbows form most frequently in Zhaosu. According to statistics, between May and August, there are on average more than 160 rainbows streaking across the sky.

Moreover, as rainbows appear so frequently in Zhaosu, local meteorologists have been researching how to develop a set of predictive data, so that travelers can come here in pursuit of them in the future. In addition, Tibet’s Lümin is also a place where rainbows can often be spotted across open grasslands. “Lümin” means “Dragon King Valley” in Tibetan, and its ever-changing weather with misty clouds makes it seem like “a place where immortals dwell,” turning it into one of the most rainbow-rich plateau mountain areas.