Wu Yousheng, a native of Jindu Village in Zongyang County, broke into the village committee's meeting room yesterday and detonated explosives which were tied to his body, state-run Xinhua reported.
Wu along with chief of the village committee were killed in the blast. An accountant and two other village committee officials were injured.
Local police said Wu had triggered the blast in revenge, as he resented the village committee officials over an "unfair compensation scheme" for him after his fight with a neighbour in January.
"I heard a deafening bang," said an old woman surnamed Chen, who was sitting in a store just across the narrow street when the explosion took place.
"It was like an earthquake, and I almost fell off the chair," she said.
Further investigation into the case is on.