No, this photo is not of a crowded beach in China, it's in Brazil

Summer arrives, the beach season par excellence, and a photograph of a crowd spreads on the shores of what is said to be the Chinese coast. It is an image that has been shared for years and for which you have asked us through the Maldita.es WhatsApp chatbot (+34 644 229 319). However, it is not a Chinese beach, but rather a concentration to see Pope Francis on Copacabana beach in Brazil.

Specifically, it was taken in 2013 on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) on the occasion of a visit by the pontiff to the Latin American country.

On the one hand, the image that is broadcast is cropped, which causes us to lose information that can indicate where it was actually taken.

In addition, in a photograph taken from the opposite angle to the image attributed to China, it shows us more information that helps us to know where and when it was taken.. If we compare both, we can see that it is the same place due to details such as the umbrellas or the giant screens.

The next step is to look at what the photograph taken from the opposite angle of the one shown shows.. In this image you can see the content of the giant screens, in which the Pope appears. From here, doing a search for the words pope, beach and crowd, we find that they are images taken at a mass on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on July 28, 2013 during World Youth Day.

And finally, checking Google Street View, you can see that both the buildings and the geographical features that appear in one of the photographs coincide with those in that area of Rio de Janeiro.

Therefore, it is a hoax that the image that is spread as a crowded beach in China is from the Asian country. The image is real, but it was taken on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 2013, during a mass of Pope Francis during World Youth Day.