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As heavy rains lashed southwest China in early July, a video was misleadingly shared in posts claiming it showed the roof of an airport in Chongqing collapsing. The footage in fact shows a section of ceiling collapsing at a shopping centre in the megacity, not an airport.<\/p>\n
“Airport roof crashed down in Chongquing (sic), China’s 3rd largest industrialized city,” reads the caption of a\u00a0clip<\/a> shared on X on July 9, 2025.<\/p>\n The clip, which was viewed more than 3.3 million times, shows a section of ceiling suddenly giving way and drenching the floor underneath in dark-coloured water. Several people can be seen filming and stepping back as the liquid starts to spread.<\/p>\n “China is at least 900 years ahead of India,” adds the caption, in an apparent mocking reference to Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi<\/a> saying that “China is 10 years ahead” of India (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n The post circulated as China endured a summer of extreme weather, with downpours<\/a> battering much of the country’s south for weeks (archived link<\/a>).\u00a0State media reported that the most recent deluge forced the evacuation of 556 people in Chongqing, and triggered a landslide in nearby Sichuan province.<\/p>\n