This is the moment a crying Chinese bride was tied to a telephone pole during a bizarre wedding ritual.

Footage shows a gang of men, one holding the bride on his back, running with her toward a concrete post down a busy street in Shanxi, China, on September 23.

The clearly terrified young woman can be heard screaming, and as they attempt to tie her with a red cloth, she also tries to scratch some of them.

However, this only made them laugh more as they continued to secure her.

A spokesman for the family confirmed that it was indeed a wedding and that the incident occurred in the Houdigou Community of the Beidajie Sub-district Office in the urban area of Yangquan City.

The groom, seen in the video holding the bride's hand and instructing the men, said they were all his friends and wanted to have fun with him and his bride.

He stated they had first asked if she was okay with the idea, and she agreed. He also urged people not to make wrong assumptions about what was meant to be harmless fun.