An eight-year-old boy's sharp observation, inspired by a short-video, has triggered a preliminary geological survey for gold in a mountain in Dalian, Liaoning province, sparking heated discussion on Chinese social media.

Sun Dianfeng was on a family trip to his ancestral home in Daying town in northern Dalian on April 16. After lunch, while foraging for wild vegetables with his father Sun Wenge, the boy suddenly pointed to a patch of plants and exclaimed excitedly that they were field horsetails (Equisetum arvense), and that where they grow, gold might be found.

His father, unfamiliar with the plant, used an online AI assistant to confirm its identity. The pair then searched the surrounding area and found further clues, including flakes of biotite and limonite.

The father reported to the local natural resources bureau, and surveyors visited the site on Friday.