One man has died and at least six people have been injured after violence broke out in southeastern China during a protest over a land dispute.

The clashes initially broke out on Tuesday between local residents and construction workers at a building site in the city of Liling in China's central province of Hunan, according to news reports.

The Xiaoxiang Morning Post, a provincial newspaper, said the villagers were trying to stop the workers from building on land they say they had not been properly compensated for.

According to the Hong-Kong based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, more than 1,000 villagers then marched on the city government offices, where they clashed with hundreds of police and overturned two police cars.

Video of the clashes secretly recorded by a villager later showed the body of a middle-aged man in a red shirt lying inside the lobby of a government office building.

The man's relatives had apparently taken his body to local officials in protest at their treatment.

Land disputes are common in China, where local governments often sell plots of land to construction companies with little compensation for local residents.

The clashes in Liling highlight concerns among China's leadership that the current economic downturn, and the subsequent loss of jobs, could lead to a spike in social unrest.