This mesmerising footage appears to show dozens of stars shooting through the sky over China.

The 'meteor shower' was actually a spacecraft carrying Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu, and Gui Haichao, who came back to Earth on October 31 after a five-month mission on the country's space station.

Several residents were able to capture the moment the return capsule passed over the sky above the city of Korla, in the north-western Xinjiang Region, as it was arriving home.

The spectacle gave the illusion of dozens of falling stars brightening up the evening sky as the space capsule burned on its way down.

One resident, named Wang Hanbing, said the entire process lasted about half a minute. He said he found it very impressive to witness the Shenzhou spacecraft returning to Earth.

The three astronauts from the Shenzhou 16 mission landed in their return capsule at the Dongfeng landing site around 8:10 am. They handed over control of the space station to the Shenzhou 17 crew, who had arrived on October 26.

Shenzhou 16 was China's fifth crewed mission to the Tiangong space station and the 11th overall. The new Shenzhou 17 crew will stay on Tiangong for six months.

China reportedly aims to keep Tiangong operational and permanently occupied for at least a decade.