Is the viral image of ‘Monster Building’ in Hong Kong real?
An image of a set of colossal and intensely jam-packed apartments is doing rounds on Facebook and has grabbed the attention of many Facebook users around the world.
Claim: Many netizens are circulating the viral image with a claim that such a gigantic set of apartments exists in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. The image has created quite a stir on Facebook.
The viral image was posted on 21 June 2021 on a public group known as ‘Unbelievable Facts Club‘ by a user named Arvind Kumar.
Another Facebook user named Emadul Haque Shimul also posted the viral image on his timeline and captioned it as –
#Quarry bay, Hong Kong
A Facebook user named Denzkhie Colima also posted the viral image and captioned it as – “Monster Building in Hong Kong china
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Truth
The viral image of a set of colossal apartments claimed to be in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong is heavily edited and is misleading.
After running a reverse image search, we found the viral photo up for sale on YellowKorner Hong Kong, a media company that houses limited edition premium artwork of artists from around the world. The photo is titled “THE MONSTER BUILDING MULTIPLIED,” and it is credited to a freelance photographer and videographer named Tristan Zhou.
Based on the description of the photo available on YellowKorner we were able to draw the conclusion that the image is not authentic rather digitally edited to give it a jaw-dropping appeal. The description of the photo reads “The photographer and videographer Tristan Zhou has a singular approach to photographing the gigantic buildings, both living and working spaces, that are typical of Asian metropolises, doing so with a unique sense of composition, light and perspective. He makes no secret of the fact that he sometimes uses the artifice of composite images and post-production effects such as for the Monster Building in Hong Kong, whose size is magnified by superimposing two photographs. Ultimately, Tristan Zhou doesn’t deform reality but rather shows us his own.”
(Photo: Tristan Zhou/Instagram)
(Photo: Tristan Zhou/Instagram)
With the help of reverse image search, we also discovered the viral image on Tristan Zhou’s Instagram page. His Instagram page has a lot of his digital artwork and it can be accessed here.
With the help of reverse image search, we discovered the original and unedited image of the apartments on the official website of TimeOut Hong Kong, a media/news company. The gigantic structure captioned as ‘the monster building’ in the viral posts is originally known as ‘Yick Cheong Building’ and it is located in Quarry Bay, a residential district in Hong Kong. The original image is up for sale on several stock photography platforms and can be viewed here here here.
When we searched Google Maps and Google Earth with keywords like ‘Yick Cheong Building‘ and ‘Quarry Bay’ we were able to come across several original images of the apartments which were much smaller than the viral image that appeared unending.
During the course of our investigation, we also found a Youtube video on the channel named ‘DongDong Wu’ that gives detailed and original footage of the ‘Yick Cheong Building’.
Interestingly, we also found out that a scene from the Hollywood movie “Transformers: Age of Extinction” was filmed at the same location, so we searched on Youtube and found a video titled “The Set of Transformers – Yick Fat Building Hong Kong”, the original images of the ‘Yick Cheong Building’ can be easily viewed in the video.
The video was uploaded on the Youtube channel named ‘Keisha Rose‘. Hoaxeye, a fact checking organisation had also debunked this viral claim back in 2019. It’s report can be accessed here.
Therefore, we can conclude that the viral image is just a digital specimen created by superimposing two photographs and magnifying them, and it is not the original image of ‘Yick Cheong Building’ also known as ‘The Monster Building,’ as claimed in the viral posts.
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