A man suspected of hacking three children to death with a meat cleaver and wounding 13 others at a nursery in south China was distraught about being out of work, according to police.

Police said they have detained Wu Yechang, 25, on suspicion of assaulting 16 children at a private nursery on Friday in Pingnan county, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. A manager at the nursery was also detained during the investigation into the attack.

Police said they subdued Wen with the help of residents about 2 pm on Sept 21 when they responded to reports of the attack at the nursery.

Three of the children died in a hospital, and the 13 survivors are receiving treatment and are in stable condition, a doctor at Pingnan County People's Hospital named Yu told China News Service.

According to police, Wu said that his job as a migrant worker in neighboring Guangdong province "did not go well" and that he returned to Pingnan in June. He had been unemployed since July and gradually became frustrated.

On Sept 21, he had considered killing himself in a mortorcycle crash, but decided against it.

Instead, he bought a meat cleaver and road around aimlessly on the motorcycle. When he saw the nursery, he broke in and began slashing anyone he saw, police said.

Wu has no criminal record or prior history of mental illness, police said, and psychologists will now determine his mental condition.

He was subdued as he tried to get to the second floor of the nursery, after assaulting 16 children on the first floor, and there were nearly 50 children in the building, a resident who helped overpower the attacker told China News Service.

The father of a 6-year-old child whose head was wounded in the attack said he was shocked.

"My child first went to the nursery only 20 days ago. I never imagined such a terrible thing would happen," the man, named Luo, told Xinhua News Agency.

The Ministry of Health and the regional government have dispatched experts to the county to help with medical care and psychological counseling.

County authorities have ordered intensified security measures at and around schools and kindergartens, Xinhua reported.