Classes resumed yesterday at a primary school in south China's Guangdong Province, two days after a man killed a nine-year-old boy and seriously injured three other children.

Only 16 of the 29 pupils had returned to class by 8:30am, said Fu Guobiao, one of two teachers at Chiling Village Primary School in Longtang township of Xuwen county. "The others are probably too scared to come back."

All the children were terrified when Su Qianxiao, a 42-year-old villager, forced his way into the building wielding a kitchen knife at 5:30am on Wednesday.

Nine-year-old Huang Tianhao was killed in the attack, and his classmate Liu Liming was seriously injured and remains in a critical condition. Two girls, both seven, were also injured.

They were the only students at school so early that day.

Su was caught by locals after he attempted to kill himself by jumping off the school building.

Two days after, first-grader Su Shaoming said he was still scared. "All my classmates are scared too. We won't come to school too early again."

Chinese school children habitually arrive early at school. In the countryside in particular, most students follow their parents' schedule to get up at daybreak and go to school.

Since the incident, Chiling Village Primary School has canceled the morning reading session that used to start at 7:00am, and told children to arrive any time before the first class at 8:00am.

The police have made little progress in their investigation because they are unable to interrogate Su, who was said to be unconscious and being treated at the same county hospital as the three injured children.