Treasure hunting villagers ignored police to dig up over 500kg of Qing dynasty coins near a river in southeast China, according to local news reports.

The antique coins were uncovered without permission by pensioners and children in a mass dig near Gan River in Xingan county, Jiangxi province. Villagers occupied a 30 square metre area of riverbank to dig for artefacts.

Local police had to bring in 20 reinforcements the following day to cordon off the area and authorities plan to carry out a further archaeological dig at the site, a provincial news site reported.