A Chinese man has been arrested after allegedly stabbing to death eight people, including three family members, China's official news agency said.

Police said that Zhou Yezhong killed his mother, wife, daughter, four neighbours and a migrant worker in eastern China's Jiangxi province.

He was arrested on Saturday evening, less than two hours after the attacks took place, Xinhua news agency said.

China has been on alert after a number of recent knife attacks on children.

Correspondents say the attacks are unsettling in a country where such violent incidents are rare.

Some analysts have suggested that an increase in psychiatric illnesses brought about by rapid social change is behind the attacks.