From Xinhua: photograph of mirage off coast of China

by **Rigorous Intuition** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:24 pm

<a href="http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/811/2006/05/07/421@85556.htm">link</a> Hoax, genuine?

by **Iroquois** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:56 pm

I found quite a few reputable sites that mention the Penglai Mirage as a recurring phenomenon. Here's an article about it from the BBC several years back: <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Wednesday, 22 July, 1998, 17:07 GMT 18:07 UK Tourists flock to Penglai fairyland Thousands of visitors have been flocking to a town on the eastern coast of China where two mirages have been sighted in recent weeks. Chinese newspapers say scenes of mountains, lakes and buildings have appeared in the sea near the popular resort town of Penglai. The town has long been celebrated in Chinese literature for its mirages which meteorologists say are caused by climatic conditions - but this year's images have been unusually detailed. Every year tens of thousands of people visit the town in the hope of catching the reflected images. The official China Daily newspaper said word of the attraction first caused tourists to flock there as much as 1000 years ago during the Sung dynasty. Then the city became known as 'Penglai fairyland' and, according to the China Daily, the interest in the maritime apparitions is undimmed. The newspaper said enthusiasm was revived in late June this year when some 50,000 tourists witnessed a mirage of a mountain landscape which lasted more than an hour. The news drew further crowds. Those who were up at dawn some 10 days later were rewarded with a sighting of a small town surrounded by hills, apparently floating on the sea. Witnesses said blocks of buildings could be seen as well as streets filled with pedestrians and vehicles. An official at the most popular vantage point, the Penglai Pavalion, told the BBC that the mirages were probably a result of the recent warm weather and humidity Despite speculation that the sightings could in fact have been connected to this month's beer festival in the nearby brewery city of Qingdao, he insisted that the mirage was no illusion. Several other areas in China are famous for the phenomenon including Mount Emei where images of Buddha have often been sighted on foggy days. <hr></blockquote> URL: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/137441.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-...137441.stm</a> Interesting thing about the title: at least some coastal mirages are called "Fata Morgana", which is Italian for Morgan Le Fay. I'm not sure if the Penglai mirages fall under that category, however. see: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_morgana_(mirage)">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat...a_(mirage)</a> Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=iroquois@rigorousintuition>Iroquois</A> at: 5/11/06 8:42 pm

by **dugoboy** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:59 pm

city by which the mirage appears: link: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penglai_City" target="top">Penglai City</a> "Its scenery has earned the city fame as the fabled landing spot on earth for the Eight Immortals. The city is also famous for its mirages out at sea, which are frequent during May and June. <a href="http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/mmsource/images/2006/05/07/4086penglai.jpg" target="top">en.chinabroadcast.cn/mmsource/images/2006/05/07/4086penglai.jpg</a> Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=dugoboy@rigorousintuition>dugoboy</A> at: 5/11/06 4:02 pm

by **Sepka** » Thu May 11, 2006 6:02 pm

Whether the picture's real or faked, there's quite a bit of documentation of people seeing "cities" on the horizon, in circumstances where they almost certainly aren't due to any recognized optical effects. It seems an improbable subject for lies. Charles Fort related some tales on the subject, I believe. -Sepka the Space Weasel

by **Ike Broflovski** » Thu May 11, 2006 6:05 pm

Sounds legit, if indeed there were thousands of witnesses. The blase language of the reports suggests that the mirage was a reflection of Penglai, in which case it was a remarkable natural occurrence. If it had been a mirage of, say, London, or Han-era Chang'an, now THAT would have been really interesting.

by **mother** » Thu May 11, 2006 6:27 pm

Fascinating Chinese apparition! Thousands of people saw and photographed the images of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Zeitoun, Cairo, Egypt. ( zeitoun-eg.org/zeitngal )has photos and videos of these apparitions from 1968-1970.

by **Connut** » Thu May 11, 2006 7:18 pm

Sounds like another dimension leaking through. A fascinating book on other dimensions not leaking but reaching through to us is "The Scole Experiment" by Grant and Jane Solomon. Very good read. Cheers, Connut

by **Rigorous Intuition** » Thu May 11, 2006 7:39 pm

FYI Connut re the Scole Experiment, in case you haven't read <a href="http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/12/down-scole-hole.html">this post</a>. It is a good book, and Scole seems quite persuasive. I would like to see a photo of the Pengalai cityscape, to see if the mirage mirrors it.

by **dugoboy** » Thu May 11, 2006 7:57 pm

scroll down to where it says penglai : <a href="http://www.archi-strasbourg.org/?page=detaildossier&ident=199" target="top">www.archi-strasbourg.org/?page=detaildossier&ident=199</a> <a href="http://www.eastpain.net/imge/fengguang/penglai_(001).JPG" target="top">www.eastpain.net/imge/fengguang/penglai_(001).JPG</a> Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=dugoboy@rigorousintuition>dugoboy</A> at: 5/11/06 6:01 pm

by **Seventhsonjr** » Thu May 11, 2006 9:58 pm

Just finished reading the trilogy and I had been meaning to discuss it here ---- but one of the themes is the parallel universes and visions of cities like this. Very interesting stuff. Anyone else read these? My son, 11, who is homeschooled, read the trilogy and asked me to read it so we could discuss it. It has some wonderful as well as disturbing themes about the abuse of and experimentations on children - and portals or windows to other parallel universes and cities kinda like this. So my whole family, who have read the trilogy, flipped when we saw this mirage stuff. Very cool and then...strange. Hard to believe. Is it a reflection of the city itself? And is that image legitimately one which was seen by thousands and photographed as represented in the article? Or is it the reflection of another nearby city or a combination of two? Just asking... Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=seventhsonjr>Seventhsonjr</A> at: 5/11/06 8:01 pm

by **bvonahsen** » Fri May 12, 2006 3:53 am

The blase language of the reports suggests that the mirage was a reflection of Penglai, in which case it was a remarkable natural occurrence. That's not how I read it. There is no suggestion that the mirage is a reflection of Penglai. Though I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility either. Perhaps it's the other side of the harbor in the mirage?

by **Dreams End** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:21 am

Whatever city that is, it's not Penglai, a small town of 30,000. You can find some images <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.plta.gov.cn/english/images/sh1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.plta.gov.cn/english/smallclass2.asp%3Fclassid%3D1%26boardid%3D2&h=150&w=220&sz=7&tbnid=sxHY404jGmQ8tM:&tbnh=69&tbnw=102&hl=en&start=11&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPenglai%2BCity%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/embarassed.gif ALT=":o"> fficial%26sa%3DN">here.</a> I assume that people in the area are able to tell what city it is or else wouldn't that be an interesting part of the story? Jinan? <img src="http://www.sdfiw.gov.cn/shandong/images/JINAN-2.jpg" style="border:0;"/> Or maybe a city in north or south Korea?

by **Rigorous Intuition** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:49 am

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/JeffWells/subalbum1/penglaimirage-enhanced.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

by **Gouda** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:54 am

Looks more like Thessaloniki Greece, Split Croatia or Trieste Italy.

by **Pirx** » Fri May 12, 2006 11:57 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>There is no suggestion that the mirage is a reflection of Penglai<hr></blockquote> It's not just one reflection, it's several reflections stacked vertically in the inversion layer(s). Each layer of warm air acts like a flexible mirror over the colder water. Hence the appearence of cars, roads etc. Such appearences are dependant on the <a href="http://home.usit.net/~aeromancy/images/arcticlooming.jpg">height</a> of the observer too, 50 cm higher or lower can make the mirage change, or disappear completely. This photo is the best example I've ever seen of Fata Morgana, aka "a looming" Found this interesting example on the web- <img src="http://www.wdtv.com/weather/images/Weather_Review/Fata_Morgana_1.jpg" style="border:0;"/> The gradual "meshing" of the thermal layers give the apparition a marked similarity to an image altered in photoshop with the cloning (or rubber stamp) tool. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=pirx@rigorousintuition>Pirx</A> at: 5/12/06 11:13 am