A Chinese teenager has been arrested after killing eight people and wounding five others in a knife attack in the nation's northeast, state media reported.

The teenager, identified only by his surname Li, barged into the home of his girlfriend armed with a knife following an argument and killed two relatives of the girl, the Legal Daily said.

As he exited the home in Liaoning province's Xinbin county, he stabbed six more people to death and wounded five, it said.

He was arrested at the scene of the attack and was taken into custody, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

No other details were immediately available. Calls made to local authorities and police in Xinbin county went unanswered.

Violent crime has been on the rise in China in recent decades as the nation's economy has boomed and the gap between rich and poor has expanded at an alarming rate.