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A parent has told of his shock after his children's nursery welcomed kids back from holiday with a performance from a scantily-clad pole dancer.

Journalist Michael Standaert shared a video from the incident on Twitter, asking his followers: "Who would think that this is a good idea?"

He added that he was considering taking his children out of the kindergarten in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The local education authority issued an apology for the performance and said in a statement that following an investigation they had dismissed the director of the nursery.

In the video, a woman can be seen dancing on a pole bearing the Chinese flag as parents and children aged between three and five look on.

The dancing was to welcome the students back to school following the summer holidays.

Before the summer holidays, the students took part in 10 days of military activities with machine guns and mortars all displayed at the front of the school.

A statement published on Monday by Shenzhen Baoan District Education Bureau said that it found that pole dancing had taken place at the kindergarten and the bureau "believes that it is not appropriate to perform pole dancing for children in kindergartens."

It added that it had taken three actions. It had instructed the school to apologise to parents, it has ordered the dismissal of the director of the kindergarten and will be inspecting the school's conduct.

It isn't the first time female dancers have been used at events.

Last year a video emerged of strippers dancing at a funeral which is often seen as a sign of wealth in the country.

After a video of dancers at a funeral went viral, the government renewed a clampdown on strippers performing at funerals, weddings and temples, branding it "obsene and vulgar."