A Chinese court on Monday sentenced a man to death for deadly blasts near a provincial Communist Party headquarters last year, state media reported.

Feng Zhijun was condemned to die by the Taiyuan Intermediate People's Court, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing a court statement.

The 42-year-old said he would not appeal to a higher court, it added.

Feng put explosive devices in at least two locations outside the provincial Communist Party headquarters in Taiyuan, the capital of the northern province of Shanxi, in November, killing one person and injuring 17, the statement said.

Feng was held two days after the blasts amid a tense atmosphere in China, just over a week after a deadly attack in Beijing's Tiananmen Square that was blamed on Uighur separatists and before a highly anticipated meeting of top party leaders in Beijing.

But newspapers and microblog postings suggested the Taiyuan attack was motivated by local grievances.

Feng was "vengeful" and wanted to "take revenge on society", Xinhua reported at the time.

Legal paths for pursuing justice in China are limited, as courts are subject to political influence and corruption, and citizens who lodge complaints against authorities often end up in detention.

Disgruntled citizens have staged several incidents elsewhere in the country in recent years.

In June last year, a street vendor set fire to a bus in Xiamen in east China's Fujian province, killing 46 passengers and himself in an act of retaliation against local authorities.

Protests in China -- on a host of issues including local corruption, land seizures, environmental policy, and labour rights -- are estimated at more than 180,000 a year, even as the government devotes vast sums to "stability maintenance".

Feng had previously served nine years in prison for theft, according to the news agency.