Christmas tree fire in China misrepresented as arson by 'Islamist' in Britain

Published on January 2, 2026 at 08:02
2 min read
By Dene-Hern CHEN, AFP Australia

Local firefighters say an electrical fault sparked a fire that engulfed a Christmas tree in southern China in December 2024, contrary to posts sharing anti-immigrant comments alongside an image of the tree and claiming it was torched by Muslims in the United Kingdom. Similar visuals of the fire circulated in social media posts and news reports at the time, and the fire department said a short circuit -- not arson -- was to blame.

"Muslims in UK burned Christmas Tree… They will never assimilate," reads part of the caption of an image posted on December 26, 2025.

The image, posted on a Facebook page sharing news about the Pacific island nation of Tonga, shows a burning Christmas tree in what appears to be a shopping centre.

Text superimposed on the image reads, "Islamist Jihadist burned Christmas Tree in UK".

Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on January 2, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

Similar posts spread in nearby Australia -- where thousands have in recent months participated in anti-immigration marches -- and a video of the tree burning was also circulated in posts from users in the Philippines, Nigeria and Britain (archived link).

"Not just the UK," read a comment on one of the posts, while another said "deport the lot".

But the circulating images neither depict an incident that occurred in the United Kingdom nor a deliberately set fire.

A reverse image search on Google led to news reports about a Christmas tree that caught fire at the Sanli Plaza in China's southwestern megacity of Chengdu on December 25, 2024 (archived here and here).

A video of the tree was posted on the mall's official Weibo page earlier in the month (archived link).

The circulating image appears to be a cropped still from a Weibo video posted the day after the fire (archived link). A similar post shows the fire from a different angle (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared image (L) and matching video posted on Weibo

The local fire department announced on December 28, 2024 that the fire was caused by "a short circuit in the Christmas tree's electrical wiring", ruling out arson and other causes (archived link).

AFP has previously fact-checked other Christmas-related misinformation.

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