In late October 2017, a poet viewed autumn leaves on Guangwu and had a poem Mount Guangwu Is on Fire published in the local newspaper, Bazhong Evening News, the following month.

Bazhong is the city which administers Nanjiang county.

The poem begins with the two lines: "Mount Guangwu is on fire. The mountain is burning everywhere."

Many people recited the poem, starting a rumor that a fire had actually taken place on Guangwu. Some people called the newspaper and even drove to the mountain in order to extinguish the fire, says Chen Lixian, vice-chairman of the Bazhong Writers' Association.

Even his mother in the countryside called him two days later and asked if the fire had been extinguished, says Chen, who, at that time, was on the editorial staff of the paper.