This is a scene from a porn movie — not a honeymoon tradition of virginity testing in China

This article is more than one year old.
Published on November 1, 2019 at 13:30
Updated on November 8, 2019 at 04:26
3 min read
By Tendai DUBE

A picture of what appears to be a couple having sex while two people watch has been shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook. It purports to show an alleged tradition practised in China, whereby the groom’s parents attend the consummation of a marriage to determine whether or not the bride is a virgin. If she isn’t, the marriage is said to be cancelled. The widespread claim continues to gain momentum despite numerous debunks since 2016 saying the screenshot is from a pornographic film.

A Facebook post, which we’ve archived here, shows the slightly blurred screenshot with a caption that reads: “In China the Groom's parents attend the honeymoon, if the girl is not a virgin, the marriage is cancelled. Imagine if we apply this to our house, 98 % of weddings will be cancelled.”

A screenshot taken on October 21, 2019 of the misleading Facebook post

Multiple versions of the post have been shared across Facebook, as seen here, and in multiple languages such as this post in Spanish.

A reverse image search on TinEye revealed hundreds of results for the image dating back to 2016. None of the first three links open correctly.

A screenshot taken on October 24, 2019 of the results on TinEye

However, a 2016 debunk by BuzzFeed shares a screenshot of the East Asia Tribune article, the third result from the reverse image search. That website had falsely reported that the photo showed a Singaporean family who insisted on witnessing their son losing his virginity. The East Asia Tribune story generated more than 50,000 likes, shares and comments on Facebook, Buzzfeed reported. Other sites then repeated the story.

An image saved on October 25, 2019 from BuzzFeed of the East Asia Tribune article

Singapore website Mothership led us to believe the image showed actors in a scene from a 2012 soft porn film by the name of Due West: Our Sex Journey in English, or Yi lu xiang xi under its original name.

Buzzfeed used another screenshot from the movie to show that the viral image of the couple and onlookers is indeed from the Chinese film.

Buzzfeed sourced the image to a Chinese blog post that no longer includes the photo. However, we were able to track it down elsewhere via a reverse image search, in an interview with the movie’s director Hu Yao Hui at a test screening in Taiwan in October 2012.

An image saved on October 31, 2019 from news.boxun.com of the same actors

The same actors appear in both images. Also, the same features can be seen in the backdrop in both images -- a yellow pillow, a purple blanket and white net curtains hanging down over the bed.

An image edited to show the same actors and similarities in the misleading claim

So, we can cast aside the idea that the photo seen in the viral Facebook post shows a “honeymoon virginity ritual”.

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