Face-to-face talking, coupled with affirmative patting and touching, is more helpful for older students to shake off the sadness and shock, he said.

"But they (the older ones) definitely need more time to recover. Mounting negative emotions will impact their health," he said.

Flowers were placed on the vacant desks of the deceased.

"We'll always protect you and don't be afraid," teachers told the students through loudspeakers. Teachers then gave each student a warm hug.

"It's my first experience (with this kind of violence) in my 30-year teaching career. I feel so sad seeing so many young lives pass away," said a teacher surnamed Shi.

In the intensive care unit of Nanping No 1 Hospital, the five wounded were struggling to survive.

To help with their treatment, the Ministry of Health has sent experts from Beijing.

The Procuratorate of Yanping district in Nanping approved the arrest of Zheng Minsheng on Wednesday afternoon on charges of intentional homicide, reported Xinhua News Agency, citing Ye Xianjin, director of the Yanping district procuratorate office as saying.

Zheng, who reportedly had a history of mental illness, worked as doctor at a local community clinic for six years, starting in 2002.

He resigned for personal reasons in 2009, reported Xinhua. However, some local reports said he was fired because of his mental instability.

Former colleagues at the clinic told China Youth Daily they had not known that Zheng had ever suffered from any mental problems.

"He was nice then and usually prescribed cheap drugs," said one of his former patients.

He had no apartment under his name and lived with his mother and elder brother's family of three in an apartment measuring 60 square meters, the paper reported on Wednesday.

He slept in the living room, said one of the neighbors.

At 42, with no career, house, or marriage, Zheng was kind of marginalized in society, said a neighbor.

"Mired in desperation, people like Zheng would be very likely to do such extreme things. They need more care," he said.