A riverside cliff along China's Yangtze River has gone viral as it resembles a puppy. Photo: VCG

A riverside cliff along China's Yangtze River has recently gone viral and even prompted a new tourist attraction after a Shanghai designer shared a photo comparing its shape to a dog earlier this January.

The mountain, dubbed "puppy mountain," is located in Yichang, Central China's Hubei Province. It was first discovered in late January this year by a Shanghai-based designer surnamed Guo while reviewing photos taken during his hike, according to Fengmian News.

"It's so magical and adorable! I felt thrilled when I first found it looks like a puppy," said Guo. He said that the white signs along the mountain resemble a puppy's teeth, and the shape looks like a puppy drinking water or watching fish in the Yangtze River. "It also seems like a guardian protecting the Yangtze River," according to Guo.

After Guo shared the photo on Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, it garnered 120,000 likes within 10 days. On Weibo, another popular social platform in China, the hashtag "puppy mountain" amassed millions of views.

Netizens who keep dogs have joined the trend, posting photos of their pets to see which resembled the mountain most closely. Many traveled to Yichang to view the site firsthand, some even bringing their dogs for photoshoots.

A geological expert said that the puppy mountain is a pictographic rock formation, and given the local geology, it likely originated from karst processes, said the report. 

Eyes, brow, and mouth of the "puppy" resemble cave exits formed by dissolution, the white area between its "forehead" and "nose" may be a collapsed cliff, said the expert, adding that the "ears" are primarily vegetation creating an optical illusion.


Global Times