A photo shows a massive umbrella covering a circular roadway. It is claimed to be the largest umbrella in the world, located in the Gansu Province, China. Is this photo real or fake?

It’s fake. 

This photo editing job superimposes an ordinary umbrella over the Nanpu Bridge Interchange in Shanghai – not the Gansu Province as many versions of the story claim. We first spotted the image in late September 2012, and it has resurfaced several times since then.

Let’s take a look at the shared image:

Now here is an unedited photo, showing the original bridge – minus the fake umbrella:

Here is a Google Maps satellite image of the same bridge, taken on February 12, 2012, which proves defenders wrong who claim that the umbrella was added only recently.

World’s Largest Umbrella

According to the Guinness website, the actual largest umbrella as of this writing is described as:

The largest umbrella measures 17.06 m (56 ft) in diameter and is 10.97 m (36 ft) tall and was made by Max New York Life Insurance (India). The umbrella was unveiled at Ishanya Mall at Pune, India, on 14 August 2010.

Bottom Line

The photo showing a massive umbrella which covers a circular highway in China is fake. The world’s largest umbrella is only about 56 feet in diameter.