The blast took place in a residential complex in Taiyuan, the capital of northern China's Shanxi province around 500 kilometres (310 miles) from Beijing.
It killed one person and injured 21, six of them seriously, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Two more people remain missing, CCTV said.
The fire department received a report around 1:00 pm (0500 GMT) notifying them of the explosion, the official Xinhua news agency said earlier.
"A rescue command centre has been set up at the scene and on-site rescue, treatment of the wounded and personnel resettlement work is currently being conducted," CCTV said.
A restaurant fire in the northeastern province of Liaoning killed 22 people and injured three on Tuesday.
China has seen a spate of such deadly incidents in recent months.
Twenty people were also killed in a fire at a nursing home in northern China's Hebei province this month.
And in January, a blaze at a vegetable market in Zhangjiakou city, northwest of Beijing, killed eight people and injured 15.
Another nine people were killed in a fire at a construction site in eastern China's Rongcheng city a month earlier.
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