Misleading: Video of roadside tents shows concertgoers, not poor tourists in China
On Oct. 3, a video on X claimed that despite China’s “world-class infrastructure,” ordinary families visiting Beijing cannot afford hotels, and many of them are forced to sleep in tents.
The footage appears to have been filmed from a moving vehicle, depicting multiple tents along a sidewalk. An X account called “The Great Translation Movement 大翻译运动” posted it and received 766 likes and 270 shares before it deleted the clip.
The same video circulated on news sites and social media platforms with similar claims, linking the tent-filled street to China’s tourism industry and economy.
For example, a YouTube Short with a Japanese voice-over alleged that “a large number of city campers are popping up due to China’s poor economy.” It received around 8,000 likes and hundreds of comments.
Other posts (here and here) and articles, such as the one by Taiwan media outlet Newtalk, claimed the footage shows disruptions brought by Chinese National Day Golden Week travelers who couldn’t afford proper accommodations.
Meanwhile, some users suggested the video depicts applicants to an art college in Beijing, queuing up for interviews.
Another user on X commented that people in the clip are fans lining up overnight for the 14th Midou Music Festival (第14届咪豆音乐节), which was held Oct. 1-2 at the Tiansheng Music Valley in Nanjing.
However, Annie Lab found all these claims to be inaccurate.
The video depicts the tents set up by music festival attendees along Zhiyin Boulevard (知音大道) on Oct. 3.
They were waiting to enter the Space Romance Music Festival (太空奇缘音乐嘉年华) held between Oct. 3 and 7 at INTIME Music Park in Wuhan, Hubei province.
Location of the street
With a comment found in an online forum and also on Facebook suggesting that the video was taken in Lower Guishan (龟山下) in Wuhan (archived here and here) as a hint, we geolocated the exact street.
Using street views on Baidu Map and Gaode Map, we can confirm that visual clues spotted in the viral video match public facilities outside of Gate One of INTIME Music Park, including a public restroom, a canvas showing “Gate 1” (1号门), a bus stop, and a parking lot sign reading “Han Qi Parking Lot” (汉汽停车场).
Filming date and the event
We searched Douyin and Xiaohongshu using the Chinese keywords “路边帐篷 (Roadside tents)” and “武汉 (Wuhan),” which resulted in several videos (here and here) that appeared to have been taken at the same street seen in the X post.
These two videos we referenced for verification were posted on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3. The Oct. 2 video had a caption explaining that people were queuing for a concert on Oct. 3.
In our investigation, we also learned that the only music festival in the area during this period was the Space Romance Music Festival (太空奇缘音乐嘉年华), held from Oct. 3 to 7, 2025.
Annie Lab reached out to a Xiaohongshu user who posted on Oct. 5 about her queuing experience for the Space Romance Music Festival on Oct.3.
The user (“青瓷碎茶盏_”) confirmed that she lined up outside the entrance overnight to secure a better spot in front of the stage. ”There were more than 1,000 people in line,” she said.
The Wuhan government reposted an article by a local paper Changjiang Daily (长江日报) reporting that showgoers spent the night in the street (archived here) on Oct. 4.
According to the paper, tickets for the music festival were free seating, prompting many to wait overnight in tents to secure prime spots. The article included a photo showing the tents from a different angle.
It also reported that security personnel guided the setup of more than 100 tents, instructing people to follow the numbered slips distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
