Viral Video Claiming Rain of Worms in China on Indian Social Media Actually Shows Poplar Tree Catkins

[beijingwalker]

Viral Video Claiming Rain of Worms in China on Indian Social Media Actually Shows Poplar Tree Catkins​

BY HARSHAVARDHAN KONDA
ON MARCH 14, 2023

Twitter Facebook Reddit
A video claiming to show a rain of worms on cars in Liaoning Province of China has been circulating on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.

Claim: Visuals of worms raining in Chinese Province of Liaoning.

Fact: Chinese media outlets and authorities made no such reports of a worm rain phenomenon, and close inspection of the video showed the so-called worms were not visible on nearby roads. Chinese residents and journalists identified them as the catkins of the poplar tree, which are a common sight during spring. Catkins are groups of flowers that hang from trees and do not have petals. They can be found on many types of trees, and the wind helps carry pollen for reproduction. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.

First, we conducted a thorough search of Chinese media outlets to determine if there were any reports of a worm rain phenomenon. However, we could not find any such reports. Additionally, we did not come across any announcements from Chinese authorities asking people to take shelter due to raining worms, as claimed in the post. Additionally, upon closer inspection of the video, it becomes apparent that the so-called “worms” are not visible on the nearby roads, which would have been the case if they were raining down from the sky as claimed.

After the video went viral, several Chinese users and journalists took to Twitter to debunk the claim, stating that the alleged “worms” were the catkins of the poplar tree.


It is worth noting that poplar trees are widely grown across China, and catkins are a common sight during the spring season. Furthermore, we found similar images of catkins dropped on cars parked under trees in China, which can be seen here, here, and here.

According to Britannica, a catkin is a group of flowers that hang from a stem and do not have petals. They can be found on many types of trees like willows, birches, oaks etc. The wind helps carry pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers so that they can reproduce. Some plants have both male and female flowers on the same plant, while others have them on separate plants. More visuals of Catkins can be seen here and here.

To sum it up, the viral video claiming rain of worms in China actually shows poplar tree catkins.

Viral Video Claiming Rain of Worms in China Actually Shows Poplar Tree Catkins - FACTLY

Catkins are groups of flowers that hang from trees and do not have petals. Catkins are a common sight in China during Spring.

factly.in

 

[beijingwalker]

 

[beijingwalker]

 

[-=virus=-]

Chinese would like nothing more than for it to rain worms.

Free food.

 

[beijingwalker]

Didn't we go through this every year in early spring? a dumb lie like this can even go viral in India and the west, people there are getting incredibly dumber by the day thanks to their brain cell killing media.

 

[One_Nation]

Similar tree droppings are found in Australia too.

 

[etylo]

Only dumb fools in India like to believe such story to be true in China.

 

[PeterboroughAli]

Viral Video Claiming Rain of Worms in China on Indian Social Media Actually Shows Poplar Tree Catkins​

BY HARSHAVARDHAN KONDA
ON MARCH 14, 2023

Twitter Facebook Reddit
A video claiming to show a rain of worms on cars in Liaoning Province of China has been circulating on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.

Claim: Visuals of worms raining in Chinese Province of Liaoning.

Fact: Chinese media outlets and authorities made no such reports of a worm rain phenomenon, and close inspection of the video showed the so-called worms were not visible on nearby roads. Chinese residents and journalists identified them as the catkins of the poplar tree, which are a common sight during spring. Catkins are groups of flowers that hang from trees and do not have petals. They can be found on many types of trees, and the wind helps carry pollen for reproduction. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.

First, we conducted a thorough search of Chinese media outlets to determine if there were any reports of a worm rain phenomenon. However, we could not find any such reports. Additionally, we did not come across any announcements from Chinese authorities asking people to take shelter due to raining worms, as claimed in the post. Additionally, upon closer inspection of the video, it becomes apparent that the so-called “worms” are not visible on the nearby roads, which would have been the case if they were raining down from the sky as claimed.

After the video went viral, several Chinese users and journalists took to Twitter to debunk the claim, stating that the alleged “worms” were the catkins of the poplar tree.


It is worth noting that poplar trees are widely grown across China, and catkins are a common sight during the spring season. Furthermore, we found similar images of catkins dropped on cars parked under trees in China, which can be seen here, here, and here.

According to Britannica, a catkin is a group of flowers that hang from a stem and do not have petals. They can be found on many types of trees like willows, birches, oaks etc. The wind helps carry pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers so that they can reproduce. Some plants have both male and female flowers on the same plant, while others have them on separate plants. More visuals of Catkins can be seen here and here.

To sum it up, the viral video claiming rain of worms in China actually shows poplar tree catkins.

Viral Video Claiming Rain of Worms in China Actually Shows Poplar Tree Catkins - FACTLY

Catkins are groups of flowers that hang from trees and do not have petals. Catkins are a common sight in China during Spring.

factly.in

Thanks for clearing up the misinformation being spread

 

[beijingwalker]

Pathetic lies

 

[Yaoudelizard]

Low IQ, they can’t help it.

 

[beijingwalker]

Low IQ, they can’t help it.

lol, and those pathetic lies spread so well like wild fire across western and Indian official and social media.

 

[thewayoftheworld]

Just show the hatred they have for China that even the most mundane thing can be viral if it can be used to portray China in a bad light. A testament to how corrupt and deceitfulness of Indian and Western media.

 

[TheNoob]

White people really tried to spin this in the most dumbest way. Props, Props.

 

[One_Nation]

Only dumb fools in India like to believe such story to be true in China.

Average Indians see more poop on streets than leaves so it is natural for them to take any unidentified object as poop.

 

[beijingwalker]

No, it didn’t rain worms in China​

A video posted online claims to show a street covered in worms that allegedly fell from the sky. But there is a much less horrifying explanation for the brown blobs.

Author: Kelly Jones
Published: 11:50 AM EDT March 15, 2023

A video claiming to show streets and vehicles in a Chinese neighborhood has gone viral online, racking up millions of views across social media networks.

The video shows someone walking down the street, past cars with some worm-like debris on top of the hoods and windshields, sliding down the sides of the vehicles. One person can be seen in the video carrying an umbrella.

“WATCH: China citizens told to find shelter after it looked like it started to rain worms,” one tweet with more than 12 million views says.
“China pummeled by ‘rain of worms’ as residents asked to carry umbrellas,” other tweets said.
Google Trends data also showed people were asking if it was really raining worms in China.

THE QUESTION​

Did it really rain worms in China, as the viral posts claim?

THE SOURCES​

• Ministry of Public Security in China
• Dongyang Daily on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok
• News coverage from various Chinese agencies

THE ANSWER​

No, it didn’t rain worms in China. The video shows catkins, which are flowers from poplar trees.

WHAT WE FOUND​

The video actually shows flowers, also known as catkins, from poplar trees that covered cars and a street in China’s Liaoning Province.
The Ministry of Public Security in China confirmed the location where the viral video was taken in a post to Weibo, a Chinese social network. The post from China’s police called into question the claim and attributed the worm-like debris to the trees.
The post implies people should do their research before assuming, by saying: “This story tells us we must read more!” The post was written in Chinese and translated via Google Translate.
The video from the street was first posted on March 1 by Chinese news agency Dongyang Daily to Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok. This is the earliest version of the video VERIFY found posted online.
The caption with that video, written in Chinese and translated via Google Translate says: “Poplar flowers falling all over the roof of the car look like bugs from a distance.”
The catkins seen in the videos come from the populus tomentosa, known simply as the Chinese poplar tree. The poplar tree has two types of flowers – male and female. Female poplar flowers appear like snow when they fall from the tree, and the male counterpart appears to have the worm-like features seen in the video. The trees are located all over China, including in the Liaoning Province, and the flowers fall off the branches and drop, or travel by wind.

The Observer, a Chinese media site, posted about the flowering on Weibo. Their post also included other photos of the same poplar debris from other areas around China.
VERIFY was not able to independently geolocate the street featured in the video. China’s government, which regulates most of the internet in the country, doesn’t grant permission for navigation sites like Google to have street view access.
But, the same license plates seen in the video can be matched to license plates used in the Liaoning Province. The Chinese symbol for Liaoning is the first symbol on the plate.
In April 2021, this video was posted to Douyin that shows another angle of the poplar plants littering another street in the Liaoning Province. The same debris appears on those cars, as well.
That video caption, also translated using Google, said: “The spikes of poplar flowers in Benxi, Liaoning covered the roof of the car. Netizens: The car was just washed for nothing!"
Sohu, another South China news agency, also reported on the flowering at about that same time. The article said the flowers are a sign of spring and were a nuisance to sanitation workers.

Related Articles​

• No, Chinese state media did not blur World Cup crowds as viral tweets suggest

No, it didn’t rain worms in China

A video posted online claims to show a street covered in worms that allegedly fell from the sky. But there is a much less horrifying explanation for the brown blobs.

www.firstcoastnews.com