A video of a woman armed with butcher knives in both hands facing off against police on a busy street has been circulating on social media. Many people who shared the video claimed that it was from Japan, but the India TV Fact Check team has found that the incident actually took place in China's Guangdong province.
The incident occurred on August 14, 2023, when the woman was found walking down the street in broad daylight while holding the knives. People in the area called the police, who tried to persuade her to put down the knives. When she refused, they tackled her and pinned her to the ground. No casualties were reported.
India TV did a fact check
India TV's investigation found that the video was taken in Foshan, a city in central Guangdong province. Several China-based media outlets and people shared the video at the time. One of the reports mentioned that the woman had bought two new knives from a store and was carrying them straight to her home without any packaging.
Another report included photos of the incident in better resolution. Using Google Lens, we were able to identify the text written in Mandarin in front of a shop on the street. A Google search revealed that it was an outlet of DaShenLin Pharmaceutical, a China-based company principally engaged in the pharmaceutical retailing business. It is headquartered in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China.
One of the reports about the incident also stated that it took place in front of a branch of DaShenLin Pharmaceuticals in Shunde District, Guangdong Province. This further confirms that the incident occurred in China and not in Japan.
The spread of misinformation on social media is a serious problem. It is important to be critical of the information we see online and to verify its authenticity before sharing it. In this case, the video of the woman with the knives was misidentified as being from Japan. This could have led to people making assumptions about Japanese culture and society that are not accurate.
It is also important to note that carrying knives in public is illegal in China. The woman in this incident was breaking the law by carrying the knives without any packaging. This is a reminder that we should always be aware of the local laws when traveling to other countries.
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