Shocking and slightly bizarre footage has emerged of a man appearing to steal a woman's mobile phone while she sleeps outside on a sunbed.

The CCTV video, filmed in Hubei Province in China on September 11, shows a woman sleeping on a fold-up chair by a road, when a cyclist gets off his bike and approaches the woman allegedly to steal her phone.

The man was later arrested by police, and the woman reportedly said she moved her chair so she could sleep in the open air.