Chinese Memorials Shared Japanese Gravestones Cemeteries With QR Codes

An image of a person scanning a QR code displayed on a tombstone has been shared multiple times on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter alongside a claim that it shows Japanese gravestones equipped with QR technology. The claim is false. The image actually shows memorial gravestones for the Chinese victims of World War II at a theme park in Chongqing, China.

The photo was posted here on Facebook on August 26, 2021.

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The caption reads: "Technology after death in Japan..!

"The graves of the Japanese are equipped with a special QR code for each grave, which shows you pictures, information and a brief biography of the life of the dead!! / silent art". 

The picture has been shared more than 150 times after it was posted with a similar claim here, here and here on Facebook; as well as on Twitter here and here.

It also appeared on Instagram, alongside a similar claim in the Indonesian language.

The claim, however, is false. The photo shows mock gravestones at a theme park in China.

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Reverse image and keyword searches on Google found the original picture appeared in this April 1, 2015, report published by ECNS, the English-language portal of China News Service, a Chinese state-owned news agency.   

The report is titled: "Online memorial dedicated to WWII victims".

Below is a screenshot of the ECNS report.

The photo's caption reads: "Visitors scan QR codes to commemorate victims of the Nanjing Massacre and Bombing of Chongqing, both committed by Japanese troops in China during World War II, at the theme park Foreigner Street in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, March 31, 2015.

"Visitors can take part in an online memorial, by lighting candles, presenting flowers, ringing bells and planting trees."

Chinese text displayed on the mock gravestone on the far right of the photo reads: "Victims of the Nanjing Massacre" and "Commemorate online".

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Below is a screenshot comparison of the picture in the misleading post (L) and the original photo (R).

China Daily and China.org.cn also reported about the QR codes installed on the memorial gravestones at the theme park in Chongqing.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by BOOM staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)