As Taiwan celebrated its national day on October 10th, posts spread on social networks footage falsely claiming to show China and Taiwan celebrating the revolution that overthrew the Chinese imperial dynasty more than a century ago. The videos actually depict a National Day parade in Beijing in 2019 and a drag queen performance in Taipei in 2024.
“The celebration of the Xinhai Revolution on the mainland versus the celebration of the Xinhai Revolution in Taiwan. Such an eyesore,” reads the simplified Chinese text. X post shared on October 10, when Taiwan celebrated its national day.
The post includes two clips. The video above, with the text “Mainland China” overlaid, shows soldiers marching in front of a portrait of revolutionary Sun Yat.ru, while the clip below with the text “Taiwan” superimposed showed a performance by drag queens.
Screenshot of a fake X post made on October 13, 2025, with a red cross added by AFP.
Annual celebrations in Taipei on October 10. marked 114th anniversary of the overthrow of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, called Xinhai Revolution – and the subsequent founding of the Republic of China, which modern Taiwan still uses as its official name (archive Here And Here).
China, which primarily uses Simplified Chinese for written text, believes self-governingdemocratic Taiwan as part of its territory, and Beijing has not ruled out using force to seize it(archive link).
The comments pointed out some users were disappointed with the way Taiwan celebrated the Xinhai Revolution.
“A complete disgrace. China shows respect and strength. The other demonstrates confusion and the complete destruction of cultural property,” he left a comment in English.
Another comment in simplified Chinese reads: “Sun Yat-sen coughs up blood from the portrait.”
video was distributed along with similar claims on TikTok And Weibo.
But the clips are not related to each other.
Procession in Beijing 2019
To Baidu reverse image search from key frames from the top clip “Mainland China” led to screenshots military parade 2019 in Beijing (archive link).
The logo has the Chinese national broadcaster watermark in the upper left corner. CCTV (archive link). However, the full video of the procession does not appear on the official website.
Further keyword search led to live video uploaded by UK media Guardian News on YouTube October 1, 2019 (archive link).
The caption reads: “China will mark the 70th anniversary of its founding on National Day when President Xi Jinping will inspect troops on Chang'an Avenue in the Chinese capital. More than one hundred thousand citizens will parade past the Tiananmen Gate with floats.”
Comparison of screenshots of the fake X video and the YouTube video taken on October 13, 2025.
AFP also reported that China celebrated 70 years of Communist Party dominance on October 1, 2019 with a parade of tanks, missiles and troops (archive link).
Drag queens in Taipei
For the second clip, a reverse image search resulted in Facebook video published by Taiwanese TV channel TTV News Channel citing a source presidential office, which is dated May 15, 2024. (archived Here And Here).
The caption in Traditional Chinese reads: “President Tsai Ing-wen today (15th) received Nymphia Wind, the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race. Nymphia held a series of drag shows. She was moved to tears during her speech, thanking President Tsai for her many years of contributions to defending Taiwan and defending the motherland. She expressed gratitude to Tsai for eight years of dedicated work, calling her “the mother of Taiwan.” Taiwan”.
Tsai Ying-wen is the predecessor of current President Lai Ching-te (archive link).
Comparison of screenshots of the false X post and a Facebook video taken on October 13, 2025.
During Tsai's two terms in office, her Democratic Progressive Party has been an outspoken supporter of social issues, especially in LGBTQ rightsmaking the island the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019 (archive link).
In memory of the revolution
When it comes to celebrating the Xinhai Revolution, Taiwan usually signs this is along with the celebration of National Day (archive link).
In 2025, the self-governing island received military parade And student performances at the Presidential Palace on October 10 (archive Here And Here).
I-Hwa ChengAFP
(I-Hwa Cheng/AFP)
In China this year smaller scale activity were held on Martyrs' Day on 30 September, including an offering of flowers in honor of the revolutionaries who died during the 1911 uprising (archive link).
The last major celebration of the revolution took place on October 9, 2021, with the participation of the Chinese President. Xi Jinping Speaking at a meeting dedicated to the 110th anniversary (archive link).
AFP previously denied others disinformation about Taiwan-China conflict.
October 20, 2025 Article updated to include correct formatting.