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.

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.

(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."

• 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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