Collapsing Chinese people

 Collapsing Chinese people(COVID-19/Media Manipulation)

Date	January 2020 - April 2020
Location	China
Description	Right at the beginning of the COVID crisis, videos from China emerged which showed collapsing people.

Pictures from Chinese people that were collapsing on the streets in China and other situations were shared on social media in the west from January 2020 on, which added to the fear of Covid-19. These pictures and videos were at times taken by other passersby, but also footage from surveillance cameras was shared.

Points of note:

• people in these videos seemed primarily middle-aged persons;
• commentators pointed out that some of these circumstances seemed fake (in the sense of "bad acting");
• in other videos there indeed seemed to be a medical emergency;
• with some videos it is unclear if these were taken at the time of the coronavirus;
• a number of videos had background music, some were a combination of surveillance camera footage and mobile camera (therefore cut for the purpose);
• there was also surveillance footage from what seemed to be rooms of official Chinese agencies, it is unclear how this could have found it's way to western social media;
  
• (the culture of "Saving Face" would suggest that problems are rather not broadcasted, especially not to foreign audiences; raising again the question from where these videos originated)
• at the beginning of the outbreak in other countries, similar circumstances have have not been observed, raising the possibility that these images were COVID-19 media manipulation;
• the first images spread to the rest of the world was by the agency Agence France-Presse, and published in the Guardian on January 31, 2020;

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