Jiangxi valley goes viral, wrongly tagged Japan

Operators of a scenic valley in eastern China, whose mist-filled cliffs went viral in a TikTok video, have corrected its misidentification as Japan.

The clip garnered over 1.3 million likes and the account labeled the location as Tokyo and Hokkaido in Japan, however, officials in charge of Wangxian Valley, a tourist attraction in Shangrao, Jiangxi province, confirmed the video was filmed there.

Xiong Hui, a representative of the valley, said attention from the viral video came as a surprise.

"We noticed the video attracting significant interest on overseas social media on Wednesday morning," she told China Daily. "Wangxian Valley is indeed located in Shangrao, Jiangxi. Its deep gorges and shifting mist make the landscape instantly recognizable. We're glad viewers enjoyed the footage.

"We hope friends from around the world can come and see the real beauty of Jiangxi's mountains and rivers."

Wangxian Valley, once a defunct mining zone, has since been redeveloped into a cultural resort town combining natural scenery, folk traditions and performance activities.

According to official data, the scenic area received 3.1 million visitors in 2024, including more than 150,000 from overseas, underscoring its growing international appeal.

The misidentification prompted Yu Jing, spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy in India, to clarify on X on Dec 8 that the clip did not depict scenery from Japan, inviting users to "come and see the real China".

"Chinese landscapes are being mislabeled as '#Tokyo' and '#Hokkaido' in this viral video that's already hit 1.3M likes," wrote Yu. "In reality, this is Wangxian Valley in Jiangxi province, China."

Yu's post drew a wave of comments. "I should find some time to go see it — it looks absolutely stunning," wrote X user Kevin Bailey.

Another user, Pranay from India, said, "Mistakes happen on the internet, especially when videos go viral. Good to see the correct place being shared. Every country has beautiful landscapes — knowing where they're from matters."

This is not the first time Chinese scenes have been mistaken for Japan.

Earlier this year, a widely shared video praised online for showing "Japanese subway discipline" was identified by Chinese users as having been filmed at Beijing's Xi'erqi subway station. A Similar mislabeling had circulated back in 2020.

A commentary on China.com said such episodes reflect a longstanding perceptual filter. It argued that parts of the Western media and popular culture have for years portrayed East Asia in narrow, one-dimensional terms, creating a simplified — and in some cases rigid — "image database".

The fast-changing realities of contemporary China, from futuristic city skylines to scenic sites like Wangxian Valley that combine traditional aesthetics with modern tourism design, often sit outside this dated frame, leading to misreadings and misplaced assumptions, it added.