State news outlets showed enthusiastic crowds greeting President Xi Jinping as he toured the southwestern province of Guizhou this week. They carried the usual images of Mr. Xi leading his identically dressed entourage, as he shook hands and waved to well-wishing bystanders. Photos and videos seemingly shared by onlookers on Weibo, the microblogging platform, did not diverge from the script.

However, one video clip by a bystander captured a very different scene: a woman running toward the presidential convoy, quickly subdued as she yelled to get Mr. Xi’s attention. The clip, taken at Ziyin Road in the city of Zunyi on Tuesday, quickly disappeared from Weibo, but it has since been uploaded to YouTube.

Footage of citizens confronting the Chinese president is rare, as his public appearances are usually well choreographed.

Mr. Xi has made more such appearances than his predecessors, bolstering his popularity by mingling with the wider public. Apart from state news reports, improvised snapshots and video clips of Mr. Xi’s appearances often also circulate from semiofficial sources such as the “Study Xi Fan Group” on Weibo.

But as Mr. Xi and his family venture out more often into the public eye, the risk of unplanned images appearing online has increased. In February, a Buddhist monk posted an unscripted photo of the first lady, Peng Liyuan, visiting a temple in Xi’an on Weibo. The photo soon disappeared.