Video shows retirees protesting healthcare reform in northeast China's Dalian, not central Wuhan

This article is more than one year old.
Published on February 21, 2023 at 04:45
3 min read
By Clara IP, AFP Hong Kong

Chinese-language Twitter posts, shared alongside a video of a group of people gathered in a square, misleadingly claim it was filmed in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where hundreds of retirees had staged a protest in February 2023 against reforms to the public health insurance system. The video alongside the posts has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. In fact, it was filmed in the northeastern city of Dalian, which also saw seniors demonstrating against the reforms.

The one-minute and 11-second video appears to show a large crowd gathered in a square singing and was shared on Twitter here on February 17, 2023.

It has since been viewed more than 308,000 times.

The simplified-Chinese caption reads: "Wuhan! Wuhan! Wuhan!"

The video circulated after retirees staged protests in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on February 15, 2023 against reforms to the country's vast public health insurance system that have reduced allowances paid monthly to retirees. AFP reported here.

The insurance reforms, which have been phased in since 2021, come as local government finances have been strained by years of strict and costly zero-Covid policies.

A screenshot, taken on February 20, 2023, of the misleading post.

Though protests are rare in China -- where opposition is quickly snuffed out -- expressions of anger do sometimes emerge, including widespread protests last year against strict Covid-19 rules which have since been rescinded.

The same video was also shared on Twitter here and here alongside a similar claim.

However, it was actually filmed in a different Chinese city in the country's northeast, Dalian.

A witness told AFP hundreds of elderly demonstrators started gathering to protest against the health insurance reforms in the city on February 15 around 9 am but dispersed by the afternoon.

Dalian health insurance reform protest

AFP found the location in the video corresponds with Baidu street imagery of Dalian's Renmin Square.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (left) and the Baidu Map imagery (right) with corresponding features marked by AFP:

A screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (left) and the Baidu Map imagery (right) with similarities circled by AFP.

A further Google keyword search found a similar video taken from another angle published on Twitter on February 15, 2023 by a user named "Teacher Li".

Since protests in 2022 against China's strict zero-Covid policies, the "Teacher Li" account has become a go-to source for protest-related images and videos submitted by his followers, as government censors swiftly wipe such content from Chinese social media, AFP reported.

The video's caption reads: "Internet users added that people were shouting the name of the city's mayor in front of the government building in Renmin's Square in Dalian's Xigang District".

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (left) and the Twitter video (right):

A screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (left) and the Twitter video (right) with similarities circled by AFP.

The protest in Dalian was also reported by the Chinese-language arm of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

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Video shows retirees protesting healthcare reform in northeast China's Dalian, not central Wuhan

Dalian health insurance reform protest

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