Eight people were killed and 17 others injured in a stabbing attack at a vocational school in the eastern city of Yixing on Saturday night, local police said.

The attack occurred at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology at around 6.30pm local time on Saturday, the Yixing police said in a statement.

Videos circulating on social media showed injured people lying on the street after the attack while others rushed to help.

The suspect, a 21-year old graduate of the school surnamed Xu, was detained on site.

Police said Wu had failed his school exams and could not get a graduation certificate, and that he was dissatisfied about his pay at an internship.

This is the second deadly attack within a week after a man drove his car into people at a sports facility in the southern city of Zhuhai, leaving 35 people dead and injuring 43 others.

In October, a man was detained after he allegedly attacked children with a knife at a school in Beijing. Five people were wounded.

In September, three people were killed in a knife attack in a Shanghai supermarket, and 15 others were injured. Police said at the time that the suspect had personal financial disputes and came to Shanghai to “vent his anger”.

The same month, a Japanese schoolboy died after being stabbed on his way to school in the southern city of Shenzhen.

On Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo, keyword searches of the attack offer the police statement but no videos or images related to the attack.

The Chinese government often censors internet content if it is deemed overly sensitive or political.