Police have arrested a suspect in a rat poisoning case that left one child dead and sent 20 others to the hospital this week in a south China village, local authorities said Wednesday.

Li Shengguang, 66, owner of the land where the Muge Township Wenda Kindergarten was built, admitted he put the poison Monday into a meal intended for Lu Zhikun, a contractor at the school, said a spokesman of the Guigang city government in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Li admitted to a long-running dispute with Lu, the spokesman said.

However, Lu did not eat the meal but added it to congee (porridge) that was given to the children.

Li was arrested at 11 p.m. Tuesday and confessed to the crime at the scene on Wednesday, the spokesman said.

Twenty-one babies aged two to five were sickened by the rodenticide, called "Dushuqiang" in Chinese, which is widely used in rural areas.

One toddler died before reaching the hospital. The others were still being treated in the Guigang People's Hospital.

Among seven serious cases, three were in intensive care, said Qin Mingda, a Guigang City official.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2009)