The Viral Photo Of Bowls Trapped In A Cupboard Was Actually Taken During An Earthquake

It was not taken by a "frustrated mother" in Taiwan.

A lot of people were left very stressed out this week as they wondered how they would open a glass cupboard with a set of porcelain bowls trapped mid-fall.

The photo first went viral after Taiwanese user Tseng Shao-Tsen posted it to a closed Facebook group over the weekend. It was then re-shared to a popular Taiwanese Facebook page, where it received more than 16,000 likes.

People immediately flocked to the rescue with ever-so-practical solutions.

Several local outlets then reported on the photo without speaking to Tseng.

On Wednesday, the Daily Mail published a piece in which it spoke to Tseng, who said the cupboard belongs to his friend who is a stay-at-home mom.

The story was then picked up by several other media outlets.

The photo spread on to Twitter, where people made jokes.

However, the photo first appeared in a tweet a month ago by an account belonging to a hotel in Tottori, Japan, called Ryokan Suigou.

The hotel owners, whose last name is Kishida, told BuzzFeed News that they took the photo on their phone after an earthquake in the Tottori Prefecture on Oct. 21.

They uploaded several photos on the account that same day showing them opening the cupboard.

Tseng told BuzzFeed News that the photo he posted was the same as the one from the Japanese tweet.

He said he shared it because he thought it was funny and did not realize it would go so viral.

Tseng said he had told the Daily Mail that his friend had shared the photo with him, but claimed he was not aware that the person who he spoke to worked for the Daily Mail and said he was surprised to find that it had been reported as his friend's cupboard.

BuzzFeed News has reached out to the publications mentioned in this article for comment.

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