Fact Check: Viral video of brightly-lit boats on a river is NOT from Kerala but CHINA
The video has a text claiming it shows the Mahankaleshwara temple – Miralam Mandi, but the caption on the video claims that it shows celebrations of Deepotsavam in Kerala.
A video showing a few brightly-lit boats sailing on a river in a zig-zag manner is going viral on social media. The video shows the boats cruising while a Telugu song is played in the background.
The video has a text claiming it shows the Mahankaleshwara temple – Miralam Mandi, but the caption on the video claims that it shows celebrations of Deepotsavam in Kerala.
The caption on the video claims "Deepotsavam with 240 lighted boats on Nagachaturthi in Kerala. Enjoy the beauty"
Fact check:
The claim that the video shows Deepotsavam in Kerala is FALSE. The video shows the Golden Dragon boat in southern China.
When the key frames extracted from the video were searched using Yandex, we found several social media platforms on which the video was shared.
A website named dzen.ru shared the video with the caption "In the style of a Chinese dragon, it looks cute".
The viral video was shared on Instagram too.
On work.vk.com, the viral video was shared with the caption "A radiant dragon floats down a river in south China's Guangxi province"
Taking a cue from this, we searched using the keywords "golden dragon in a river in southern china", and we found a few articles published in 2021.
According to an article published on news.cn in 2021, a 'golden dragon' consisting of 88 bamboo rafts is cruising on the Yulong river, a tributary of the Lijiang river, in Yangshuo County of Guilin in south China's Guangxi.
In recent years, the bamboo raft tour has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Yangshuo, often called one of the most beautiful places in the world.
An article in CGTN.com published on May 31, 2022 said a lengthy dragon boat made its debut last week, winding its way down the Yulong river in southern China. At 700-meters long and made up of 80 bamboo rafts, the boat is being used to bring interest and more tourism to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
According to the website Guangxi China, on May 19, 80 bamboo rafts with golden lights formed a 70-metre "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.
Visitors alongside the river enjoying the dreamlike scenery were also invited to light up a floating river lantern and leave it on the water making a wish. This activity made the water surface look like a dazzling stellar map.
The activity was held as a celebration of the 12th China Tourism Day, and to increase Yulong river's reputation while creating new night tourism models.
http://en.gxzf.gov.cn/2022-05/
Hence, the viral video showing a group of brightly lit boats floating on the river is from China and not from Kerala, as claimed. The claim is FALSE.