A neighbourhood in Dhaka has apparently become New Delhi for thousands of Chinese social media viewers.
Chinese vloggers are livestreaming from Uttara, telling audiences back home that they are filming in India and portraying the neighbourhood as an example of Indian poverty, poor sanitation and unhygienic living conditions, Indian news outlet ThePrint reported on Monday.
The report, titled "Chinese whispers in Dhaka," draws on investigations by Bangladeshi media, including Prothom Alo, BanglaVision and ATN Bangla.
Residents estimate that more than 5,000 Chinese nationals are involved in the filming, although there is no official count.
Their activities are concentrated in Uttara's Sector 12 and the adjoining Tekpara neighbourhood, where livestreaming has reportedly continued for months.
Some vloggers carry Indian consumer products, including shampoo, soap and hair oil, into local shops to create the impression that they are filming in India.
According to residents, they sometimes pay shopkeepers 500 taka after filming.
ThePrint reported that some broadcasts describe the neighbourhood as New Delhi, with vloggers making disparaging claims about Indian living conditions.
On November 1, a Chinese woman identifying herself as Mianmian, from Sichuan province, filmed beside a canal in Uttara.
"This is New Delhi," she told viewers, before describing the surrounding homes as dirty, underdeveloped and unhygienic.
Another Chinese national, identified as Wang Wei, filmed customers at a tea stall and falsely claimed they were drinking tea made from cow urine.
He also alleged that tea was prepared using dirty river water.
The filming has alarmed residents, who say some vloggers enter private homes without permission.
Rozina Khatun told Prothom Alo that Chinese nationals sometimes walked into houses and began recording while residents were not properly dressed.
Another resident, Papia Begum, alleged that some had even filmed bathrooms.
Residents said the broadcasts continued from morning until night, but they had little idea where the videos were being shown or what was being said.
Akram Hossain, a Tekpara resident, told Prothom Alo that the filming had continued for months.
He said residents regularly saw the vloggers recording before they woke up and again late at night.
ThePrint reported that some Bangladeshi women were working as guides for the Chinese livestreamers.
One of them, Ritu Akhter, told Prothom Alo that she earned between 700 and 800 taka a day.
She said the Chinese nationals generated income through livestreaming on platforms including WeChat and Douyin, China's version of TikTok.
A Chinese national identified as Fangyou told Prothom Alo, through Google Translate, that the livestreams were part of product-promotion activities.
He did not explain why the group had chosen Uttara or why the filming continued for such long periods.
ThePrint said the actual purpose of the broadcasts remained unclear.
Local police have acknowledged the presence of Chinese nationals filming in Uttara but have yet to establish the purpose of their activities.
Mohammad Khalid Mansur, officer-in-charge of Uttara West Police Station, told Prothom Alo that police did not know why the videos were being made or where they were being broadcast.
He said senior authorities had been informed and the matter was being examined.
ThePrint also cited BanglaVision footage showing Chinese nationals avoiding reporters' questions, with some saying they could not speak English.
The report raises questions about the scale of the operation, its commercial purpose and the apparent misrepresentation of Bangladesh as India.
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