Old Photos From China Shared as Images of Air Pollution in Delhi-NCR
The four photos are actually from China’s severe smog episodes between 2013 and 2021, not from Delhi-NCR
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A viral post on X has shared four photos, alleging that they show the recent pollution levels in Noida and other parts of the NCR region.
The post also claims that the government is manipulating Air Quality Index (AQI) data to downplay the severity of pollution.
What's the claim?: The post claims that the images showing a heavily polluted skyline with no visibility are from Delhi's National Capital Region(NCR), specifically Noida and Faridabad.
(Archive of a similar claim can be found here.)
However, the claim is false.
None of the photos are from Delhi-NCR. They are all from Beijing, China, taken during different years, with the oldest dating back to 2013.
What we found: We ran all four images through Google Reverse Image Search.
The search led to multiple international news reports and image archives confirming that all four photos were taken in Beijing during severe pollution episodes over different years.
Image 1: We found the source of the image.
The image was first published on Getty Images on 8 December 2013.
The photo shows dense smog covering buildings in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province.
It captures China’s notorious' '2013 airpocalypse', when pollution levels reached record highs.
We found the image was also used by The Guardian, published in December 2013.
Image 2: Appeared in 2014 reports on Beijing’s high PM2.5 levels.
The image of the thick smog engulfing Beijing’s skyline was published in The Guardian in January 2014.
(Source: The Guardian/Screenshot)
The image shows thick smog engulfing Beijing’s skyline as pollution levels rose more than twenty times above the World Health Organisation’s recommended limit in January 2014
We found the image used in The Guardian report published in January 2014, credited to Luo Xiaoguang /Corbis.
The image documents China’s 2014 pollution emergency and has no connection to Delhi-NCR.
Image 3: Shared widely by international outlets in 2017 during smog wave in China.
This image first appeared in a BBC News report from May 2017 on a dust storm that swept through Beijing.
The photograph depicts residents walking through an orange-brown haze caused by sand and pollution, with PM2.5 levels spiking sharply.
Again, this image clearly originates from Beijing, China.
Image 4: The image during Beijing’s severe pollution episode in 2021.
We found the image shared by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on X on 5 November 2021, during Beijing’s severe pollution episode.
The photo shows the city’s skyline engulfed in thick smog, with visibility dropping below 200 meters as the Chinese capital experienced one of its worst air quality days of the year.
In the post, AFP reported that Beijing’s air quality index had surged to “hazardous” levels, due to which several major roads and highways were temporarily closed due to poor visibility.
Air Pollution in Delhi-NCR: Delhi’s (AQI) recently crossed 600 in several areas. There have been reports suggesting that the government has tried to manipulate air quality data by using water sprinklers near monitoring stations.
In one such investigation, The Quint visited multiple air quality monitoring stations in Delhi and found several malfunctioning stations and instances of water sprinkling near stations like Anand Vihar.
On 9 November, large crowds gathered at Delhi’s India Gate, calling for urgent government action as the city’s air quality continued to deteriorate.
Conclusion: All four images circulated in the viral post are archived in credible international reports between 2013 and 2021, each documenting Beijing’s pollution crises. None shows Delhi-NCR or India.
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