15 Pictures Of Shockingly Blue Skies In Beijing

Gray, the dominant color of the polluted capital of China, is finally stepping aside to reveal a gorgeous blue. BONUS: Double rainbows!

1. Thousands of Beijing residents have been sharing photos of blue skies on China's popular Weibo and WeChat social media sites for the last few months.

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2. The pictures being uploaded on Thursday showed one of the clearest skies in recent memory: crystal clear and looking distinctly unlike one of the world's most polluted cities.

3. The city's air pollution level has reportedly dropped 19% in the last year, after the government began to shut down coal-fired power plants city-wide and try to reduce vehicle exhaust by giving out limited new license plates.

Sunny day in #Beijing - pollution index 25 - #FreshAirChina

4. The results are pretty stunning.

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北京难得一见的好天气,不过我也快被大风吹跑了!#beauty #nature #blue #sky #beijing #cloud #lookup #iphoneonly by svetacassiechyu

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Today,Beijing's sky,blue&clean💙⛅😊

8. Though environment experts warn that the war against air pollution still has a long way to go, a decade ago this kind of photo would have been impossible in Beijing.

9. Bonus: As Beijing's skies clear, it's becoming easier to see things like this breathtaking double rainbow, which appeared in the city's metropolitan area on June 6.

10. A blue sky plus a rainbow? For Beijingers, that's CNN-style breaking news.

BREAKING: rainbow seen over Beijing, if but for a few moments #china #waronpollution #air #environment #notfake

11. Drivers stopped their cars on a highway to take photos of it.

12. Here's where things get really weird: Double rainbows have a habit of showing up in the beginning of June. They have been a guarantee for the past three years, appearing on June 9, 2013...

View this video on YouTube

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13. June 6, 2014...

And on June 6, a rainbow appears over Beijing: http://t.co/wuE3oyq3pw

14. And June 6 again this year. (Six is a lucky number in China, and two sixes mean double the luck. So in China, June 6 is simply a very good day, and there are the rainbows to prove it.)

15. Here's hoping that this trend continues, because this is simply beautiful.

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