Fact-Check: Old Video of Golden Dragon Boat in China Passed Off as From Kerala

This dragon boat was a part of China's celebration of the 12th Tourism Day in May 2022.

Fact-check: This video of 'dragon boat' is from China.

(Photo: The Quint)

An old video of a fleet of lit up boats, shaped like a dragon, is going viral on social media with a claim that 240 boats were sailing in Kerala on the occasion of 'Dev Deepawali' recently.

• The caption, along with the viral video, states that the video is from Kerala, but mentions the name of "Sri Mahankaleshwara Devalayam, Miralam Mandi,” which is a temple located in Hyderabad.

How viral is the claim?: The video is being widely shared on social media. The Facebook post below has garnered around 10,000 views and more than 190 shares.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

(More archives can be seen here, here and here.)

Where is the video actually from?: The video is from China's Yulong River from Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. A dragon-shaped boat was formed by several bamboo rafts on the occasion of China's Tourism Day on 19 May 2022.

How did we find out the truth?: We found several news reports by China state-affiliated media and from a government website which confirmed that the video is from China.

• A reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video led us to a video uploaded on Facebook on 25 May 2022 by Xi's Moments, a China state-controlled media. The video was titled, "Annual dragon raft event on Yulong River."

Comparison between the viral video and Xi's Moments' video.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

• We also found a report by China Global Television Network (CGTN), a state-run English-language news channel, with a similar video.

• The report from CGTN from 31 May 2022 mentioned that the video shows a long 'dragon boat' on the Yulong River in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. This was done to boost tourism.

• Further, a keyword search led us to a government website of Guangxi China which carried a report from 20 May 2022 about the same boats.

• This report said, "On 19 May, 80 bamboo rafts with golden lights formed a 70-meter "dragon" wandering along the Yulong River in Baisha town's Yulong village in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, presenting a powerful night vision to visitors."

What was the occasion? : A dragon-shaped boat sailed through Yulong River to celebrate China's 12th Tourism Day. The aim was also to increase the region's tourism.

Conclusion: Clearly, this video of 'dragon boat' is not from anywhere in India.

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