Police stand outside a court in Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan province where a man was arrested over the killing of 19 villagers
Local police detained the man named Yang Qingpei, born in 1989 and from the same village, in the provincial capital Kunming, a statement released on an official social media account of Yunnan police showed.
The killings occurred in remote Yema village some 200 km south in a mountainous area.
The official Xinhua News agency reported earlier that the villagers were found dead at their homes on Thursday morning.
A list with the victims' names circulating online showed they included 11 males and eight females, with the youngest a three-year-old girl and the oldest 72.
Four names were minors under 18, the list showed.
Yunnan officers have verified the list and the news release, Beijing News reported, adding that the police have said there was no link to terrorism.
The Ministry of Public Security sent a working group to oversee the case and manage local authorities in the investigation, reports said.
Video footage circulating online reportedly from the village showed swarms of police and heavily armed officers in fatigues walking the streets and a young man in jeans handcuffed on the ground.
