Police identified the gunman in the attack that left 33 dead as 23-year-old Cho Seung-hui, a South Korean native. Cho was a U.S. resident and had been in the United States since 1992, federal officials said.

But in the hours immediately after the attacks when the killer was identified only as an Asian man, there were media reports in the United States that said he was a Chinese student who had received a visa from the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai.

"Some U.S. media made irresponsible reports on the Virginia Tech shooting before finding out the truth, which violated their professional morals," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Monday's shootings drew intense media coverage in China, in part because the school has a relatively large Chinese student body and because of the reports saying the gunman was Asian.

Chinese President Hu Jintao offered his condolences to the United States on Wednesday in the aftermath of the shooting rampage.

"On behalf of the Chinese government, its people and myself, I extend my sympathies and sincere condolences to your excellency (US President George W. Bush), the American government and its people at this difficult hour and express my grief for the victims and wish the injured an early recovery," Hu said in a brief statement.

Hu said he was "shocked by the tragic massacre" at Virginia Tech University, according to the statement released by the foreign ministry.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing had conveyed his condolences in a message to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday.