The landscape and forestry division of the government of Foshan city's Chancheng district in Guangdong province blasted off mangos with water cannons from mango trees lining 13 major roads of the city for three nights last week.

The move was to avoid people climbing on the trees to pick up the mangos.

"We have to do this. The trees are for landscape purposes but there have been cases of those who climbed up the trees for the mangos, fell down and died," said Lu Junhong, deputy director of the division, as quoted by the Southern Metropolis Daily.

Workers had been asked to pick up the mangos by hand before they became ripe in Chancheng district and water canons were also used for the first time last week.

"We considered many options, including spraying chemicals, but found that water canons are more economical," Lu said.

Contact the writer at liwenfang@chinadaily.com.cn