A Chinese college has come under fire for deploying squads dressed in military uniforms to crack down on couples who kiss and cuddle on campus.

The student patrols wear camouflage and helmets, and perform intimidating night-time drills marching around Binzhou Vocational College, in the eastern Shandong province, according to videos shared on Chinese social media.

A college official said the squads were responsible for clamping down on a range of "inappropriate behaviour", including smoking and dropping litter.

But many in China were outraged that they have also been given powers to warn couples against showing public affection, and to threaten them with being named and shamed for their behaviour.

Many in China - particularly older generations - are deeply conservative, and public affection is rare in the country.

But an adventurous generation of young, mainly urban Chinese are pushing back the frontiers of what is accepted, and attitudes are far removed from the puritan days of radical Communist Party rule that their parents lived under.