This spectacular footage shows a strange sequence of colourful lights glowing in the night sky above city buildings.

The lights, comprised of faint hues of yellow, pink, and purple, were spotted above residential buildings in Xilingol League, an administrative unit in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in northern China.

The breathtaking visual feast, resembling the aurora borealis, could reportedly be seen in several different locations on the night of December 26.

Several pillars of light, vivid in colour, captured the attention of the local communities.

Some marveled at it as a masterpiece of nature, while others expressed concerns, interpreting it as an omen of impending disaster.

Local meteorological bureau staff explained that this is a natural phenomenon observed not only in Xilinhot but also in many places across Inner Mongolia.

They clarified that the lights neither mysterious signals nor harbingers of calamity. Instead, they are a normal physical phenomenon known as halos.

Halos are formed by the reflection of ground lights from ice crystals in the atmosphere and are commonly observed in high-latitude regions and at higher elevations, such as in China's north-eastern areas.

The appearance of these colorful pillars in Inner Mongolia is attributed to a recent sharp drop in temperatures, causing water vapour in the air to condense into numerous floating ice crystals.

When illuminated by beams of light, these ice crystals create the rare spectacle.