HONG KONG - A group of young Chinese children are shown in a video circulating on the Internet prying open a vending machine and then divvying up the drinks inside, in what appears to be the latest instance of brattiness being circulated online in China.

The video appears to be surveillance camera footage taken at an arcade in Shantou in southern Guangdong province last week, South China Morning Post reported on Friday (June 1), citing Chinese news website Sina.

The video shows the boys and girls trying to prise open two vending machines, before joining forces to break into just one, the paper said.

After placing about half a dozen stolen drinks in a circle on the floor, another friend joins them and they divvy up the drinks by playing what looks like "rock, paper, scissors".

The family of a boy from Chongqing was widely condemned in February after he was shown on surveillance video urinating into the control panel of a housing block's lift, causing it to break down.

Some people commenting on the latest video said the children should be punished for the theft and vandalism.

Others said they were just being kids.