162.Interesting Chinese Culture——Were Dragons in Ancient China Really Connected to Natural Disasters?

A typhoon formed deep over the Pacific Ocean and traveled more than 6,000 kilometers across the sea. After making landfall, its winds gradually weakened, but the moisture it carried continued moving deep into China. Zhejiang, Shanghai, Hubei, Henan, and Beijing were hit by heavy rainfall one after another. In some places, just a few hours brought as much rain as would normally fall over a much longer period. Roads turned into rivers, vehicles became trapped, water levels rose, and the risks of flash floods and landslides increased. When weather like this happens today, people turn to satellite images and examine the typhoon’s path, ocean temperatures, wind shear, monsoon moisture, and urban drainage systems. But if a storm of the same scale had struck two thousand years ago, how would people have explained what was happening before their eyes?