News: after buildings that look like giant underpants and a stack of toilet rolls, here's a tower in Beijing that has been compared to a giant penis.

Seen from one angle, the scaffolding on the upper levels gives the tower an obviously phallic appearance, as internet commenters pointed out this week.

The 150-metre-high building, which will become the new headquarters for the Chinese state newspaper People's Daily, in fact has a wedge-shaped silhouette.

The Chinese government has attempted to block internet users in the country from searching for images of the building, but carefully worded messages have spread the word across Weibo, China's biggest social networking service.

"It seems the People’s Daily is going to rise up, there’s hope for the Chinese dream," said one message.

Others made creative use of Photoshop to illustrate how the tower might fit between the "legs" of the China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters in Beijing, which was designed by OMA.

See more towers with unfortunate likenesses, including one that looks like a pair of trousers, or see all skyscrapers on Dezeen.