Earlier in the day, the emergencies services said that a total of 28 people were injured.
"As of 10:00 [02:00 GMT], as a result of the earthquake one person was killed, 29 more injured with two of them in critical condition. A total of 17 buildings have been completely destroyed and 215 have minor damages," the statement read.
The earthquake struck at 06:42 local time [22:42 GMT] in the county of Weiyuan to the west of Neijiang with the depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles).