The picture shows the two leaders, in casual clothing, strolling during their first summit at Sunnylands, a picturesque desert resort in Southern California on Sunday.
It swiftly stormed Weibo, China's version of Twitter after an user compared it to a picture of the chubby sweet- toothed bear and his bouncing tiger pal in an almost identical pose.
The picture was quickly removed due to China's strict censorship laws, media reports said.
Obama, 51, and Xi, 59, spent eight hours together and a candle-lit dinner and held several rounds of meetings and discussed a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.
They talked about North Korea, climate and cyber security issues.
Obama also gifted to Xi a custom-designed park bench. The bench is inscribed on the front with the dates of this visit, and, in Mandarin, the fact that the bench is made of California redwood.