This is the incredible moment a live crab that was meant to be a man’s dinner ended up being freed after untying itself from the string that was stopping it from crawling away.

The heart-warming escape story took place at Mr Sun’s home in the city of Jinan, in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong.

Mr Sun told local media that he bought the crab from a local shop and intended to cook it.

And his wife apparently wanted to take it out of the box and put it in a refrigerator, but the crab clearly had other plans for its future.

Mr Sun walked over to the bowl of water where he had left the tied-up crab and saw that it was trying to release its bonds with its claws.

He stood observing it and thought to himself that if the crab manages to free itself, he would let it go back into the ocean.

He left it alone for a little while and came back to find that, amazingly, it had succeeded to untie itself.

Mr Sun filmed the little crab’s break for freedom and shared it on Douyin – the Chinese version of TikTok.

In the video, Mr Sun can also be seen keeping his promise towards the little crab and placing it on a boardwalk over the sea near his home from where the crab escaped back into the water.

He said that he was moved by the crab’s determination.