Watch: Woman Climbs Into X-Ray Machine To Guard Her Handbag

A woman passenger in southern China went to extreme lengths to keep her valuables protected as she accompanied her purse through a train station’s luggage X-ray machine rather than parting with the luggage amid the Lunar New Year holiday rush, Chinese media reported Thursday.

A video from the digital news platform named Pear Video, linked to the Facebook page of the state-run People’s Daily newspaper, showed a guard apparently telling the woman small bags need to go in the machine too, as she attempted to walk through the security scanner with her bag.

The security video then showed her leaving the screen and then surprisingly emerging from the device. Still X-ray images in the video showed a silhouette of a woman in high heels kneeling among bags and other items.

Security footage showed her climb out of the machine, check her handbag and luggage, and then casually walk away.

The woman rode through the security screening machine on Sunday in the southern city of Dongguan because she reportedly wanted to protect her money, the People’s Daily’s Facebook post and other media reports claimed.

It was not clear what exactly was in the woman’s handbag.

Local media reports said Dongguan station staff advised passengers not to ride the x-ray machines as radiation produced by the scanners could be harmful.

"Passengers are warned that not only is this kind of behavior forbidden, but also the radiation from the machine is incredibly harmful to human health," the People’s Daily said.

The unusual incident took place amid the world’s largest annual human migration, as millions of Chinese people return to their hometowns for Chinese New Year.

Many Chinese migrant workers are also said to carry their annual earnings home to their families in cash during the Lunar New Year holiday, the busiest travel period of the year.