This is the moment a Chinese melon farmer checking out his crop discovers a massive melon hidden underneath the branches to the obvious delight of his son.

The giant melon, which weighed in at 85 kilogrammes, was grown by the couple and presented at the country's top agricultural melonshow.

The 36th Beijing Daxing Watermelon Festival includes the prestigious 'Golden Cup' National Melon Competition and attracts farmers from across China.

And the Zhang family won second place, to the delight of its farmer-owners.

Locals were impressed by the size of the melon harvested on the farm outside Beijing and despite the family's pride at the achievement, it still has a long way to go to beat the world record held by Chris Kent from Sevierville, Tennessee, USA, whose watermelon weighed in at 350.5 lbs (159 kilogrammes).

Nevertheless, the Zhang family of melon-planters say they were delighted with the huge watermelon and winning the prize.

MsZheng told local media: 'It is very difficult and a lot of work to grow good watermelons, especially big ones, but even we were surprised by the size of this one. It's the biggest we've ever produced.'