Six people have died and one has been injured in a stabbing in a kindergarten in China’s Guangdong province.

A spokeswoman for the city government said the attack happened in Lianjiang in Guangdong province on Monday.

“The victims include one teacher, two parents and three students… and one suspect has been arrested,” she said.

The attack happened at 7.40am on Monday (local time), and a man was arrested at 8am. Police have confirmed they have arrested a 25-year-old man with the surname Wu and are investigating the cause of Monday’s attack.

They are describing it as a case of “intentional assault”.

Police have not revealed any further details about the victims.

A storeowner who works near the kindergarten told the BBC the surrounding area has been sealed.

Al-Jazeera reports the incident was the top-trending discussion on Weibo, China’s social media platform, with 130 million views by midday local time. Many users were expressing their shock.

“It’s outrageous to do this to children who have no power at all. How many families will be destroyed by this … I support the death penalty,” wrote one Weibo user.

China has has traditionally seen little violent crime. But there has been a spate of knife attacks in recent years, including several in schools.

Liangjiang is a city of about 1.5 million people in China’s coastal south-eastern province of Guangdong.

-with AAP