Man holds girlfriend hostage after her parents refused to let them get married

A construction worker held his girlfriend hostage on a Chinese rooftop with a meat cleaver for five hours after her parents reportedly refused to approve their marriage.

Hundreds of onlookers and armed police watched as the man stripped to his underwear and ordered his girlfriend to do the same so she would be shamed in front of their neighbours.

He announced he was going to kill her and claimed the 29-year-old regularly had affairs when he went to work, according to various local media reports. Continue...

At one point the man, identified as a 32-year-old named Lin, stripped completely naked.

He held his girlfriend by the throat and waved the meat cleaver in the air as trained negotiators tried to talk him down from the roof of the quiet residential block.

The man's relatives were brought to the scene on Monday to try and talk him down but had little luck

As police and soldiers surrounded the rooftop, the half-naked kidnapper demanded a getaway car for himself and his girlfriend.

Eventually police provided one and, still holding his terrified partner, the man put his jeans back on and climbed down from the roof into a city square.

But as he made his way towards the car officers gave chase, managing to pull him away from his girlfriend and throw him to the ground.

Still topless, he was handcuffed in front of hundreds of stunned onlookers and led away.

The man now faces a lengthy jail term - and according to reports, not even his own parents had approved the marriage in the first place.