Nearly all ancient cultures have lightning/thunder gods in their legends, and China is no exception. The shape of lightning bolts might also have been an inspiration for the Chinese totemic dragon because lightning events were often documented concurrently with the appearance of dragons, and dragons were believed to be responsible for making rain. Lightning/Thunder in Chinese Language In the course of Chinese written history, incidents of "lightning", "thunder", "lightning strike", and "thunderstorm" were documented frequently. [Extracted from the article]