The official Xinhua News Agency quoted provincial fire department official Sun Jiangmin as saying Tuesday's fire started on the second floor of a four-story building that also housed dormitories for the Shengfeng Ceramics Co. The building is in Foshan city in Guangdong province.
Xinhua did not say how the fire started. Factory fires are common in China because of lax safety standards and haphazard construction practices.
Xinhua said it took two hours for more than 100 firefighters to put out the blaze.
