A little girl in southern China apparently had enough of tackling a claw machine in the usual way and decided to grab one of the prizes by climbing inside.

But she then had to be rescued by staff after becoming trapped.

Incredibly, she remained completely patient and calm as she awaited her rescue, seemingly pleased she had managed to get her own toy.

The rescue was filmed by one of the witnesses to the peculiar scene, named only as Ms Pan in local media in Yongzhou, Hunan.

In the video, the little girl can be seen standing inside the machine with a stuffed toy in hand while a staff member was unlocking the glass door.

Concerned bystanders all gathered around to watch the girl being freed from her trap and getting to walk out with the prize.

Ms Pan said that luckily the little girl was fine, and the staff allowed her to keep the toy as well.

“This is a real-life doll,” said Ms Pan in the caption of the video which she shared on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Many netizens dubbed the girl’s ‘hard-earned’ prize as sneaky theft, accusing her parents of not being careful enough with their child.

And user ‘Zylxy’ said: “I am confused as to how such a big kid manage to get in there?”