Parents who encouraged their children to loot a wall of oranges that was put up as part of the city's holiday decorations were criticised for ruining the display.

Footage shows children grabbing the dozens of oranges neatly arranged along the racks of a tall wall that were put on display in the city of Ganzhou in Jiangxi province, south-eastern China, on January 1.

Several youngsters had even climbed up on the racks to be able to reach the fruit placed on the top.

Meanwhile, their parents stood below, directing the act and receiving the oranges as the kids passed them along and packed them up for home.

According to local media, city officials had put up the wall of oranges to celebrate New Year's Day, a popular tradition in China as oranges are believed to bring good luck and fortune in the coming year.

Staff from the Songchao Scenic Area Management Company said the fruit was free to take by anyone to spare them from going to waste.

A spokesman said: 'The New Year's Day event has ended, and the orange wall has been completely removed. Oranges were distributed free of charge to passersby.

'I am not sure if anyone took oranges randomly before. There were staff members nearby maintaining order, and oranges could also be purchased through self-service scanning for CNY 1 [GBP 0.11] for two oranges.

'The staff would replenish them as needed.'

She added that with the event concluded and considering the bad weather, the fruit would have gone bad if not distributed.