The world of dog lovers and geologists has come together to cause a sensation after a keen-eyed tourist spotted a canine “rock face” in China’s Hubei province.
Guo Qingshan, a designer who lives in Shanghai, recently took some landscape photos where the Yangtze River runs near his former hometown of Yichang, in Central China. Going through the photos on his return to the city, he noticed a mountainside that resembles a dog with its chin touching the water.
A guard dog for the Yangtze River and a reputation change for Wuhan?
“It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said. “The puppy’s posture is like it’s drinking water, or it’s looking at some fish. It also looks like it’s quietly protecting the Yangtze River,” he noted.
Amused, Guo posted the picture on the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, also known in English as RedNote. The caption “Puppy Mountain” soon captured viewers’ attention and affection. The photo went viral, garnering 120,000 likes in 10 days on Rednote, while over on Weibo, the hashtag #xiaogoushan – the Chinese for “Puppy Mountain” – attracted millions of views.
Since then, the area – already popular for river cruises thanks to three impressive gorges – has become even more so, with dog owners such as Yang Yang, who lives an hour and a half away, telling press she made a special trip out to see the newly-coined “Puppy Mountain” with friends and her poodle in tow.
🤩 ⛰️ 🐶 It's amazing how much it resembles a puppy! The "Puppy Mountain" in Hubei, China has gone viral. Nature’s artistry is truly mind-blowing! How much do you think the mountain looks like a puppy? 🐕 🧐 😜 #PuppyMountain #Hubei #China @Open_Hubei @AmbZhengZeguang… pic.twitter.com/hXkbU7UoYz
— Hola Fujian (@HolaFujian) February 27, 2025
The capital of Hubei Province is Wuhan, a city that gained notoriety in 2019 as the source of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s possible that the anthropomorphic rockface will make the region better known for more positive reasons. Online comments have suggested that stroking the puppy’s head will make everything “okay.”
Pareidolic faces and ancestral landscapes
The phenomenon of seeing faces in inanimate objects is known as “pareidolia” and is part of a human tendency to seek meaning. One famous example is some people’s ability to see a lunar face known as the “man in the moon”. California’s Yosemite National Park boasts several pareidolic rocks, including the self-explanatory “Elephant Rock” and “El Capitan”, notorious for free-climbing and free solo exploits, which some say is named for its resemblance to the face of an Indigenous chief.
In many First Nations belief systems, including the the Māori worldview, landscape features such as mountains and rivers, are thought to be ancestors and living beings. In early 2025, Taranaki Mounga, a volcanic cone on New Zealand’s North Island gained legal personhood after a years-long dispute.
