Panicked residents run for the light

A county in Southwest China has witnessed a run on candles as panicked residents prepare for “three days of darkness”.

Store shelves were completely wiped out in Shuangliu, 10 km south of Sichuan’s capital Chengdu, on Dec 4.

The rush came after shoppers were shocked by an online rumor that the world will plunge into darkness for three days on Dec 21.

"Sales of candles have soared in the past few days,” South China Metropolis Daily quoted a vendor as saying. “People want to be prepared for the darkness.”

The paper reported that the rumor originated with a blogger named Morning Antelope who said scientists had confirmed Dec 21 as the last day of the Mayan calendar and that there would be three consecutive days of darkness. It quickly spread among residents, mostly senior citizens.

However, Wang Sichao, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Nanjing Purple Mountain Observatory, told CCTV that the rumor has no scientific grounding.

"The Earth’s rotation results in the change of day and night,” he said. “Three days of darkness would never be possible.”