Leiberman on Tucker Carlson last night!
Beijing police called it a "suspected firecracker device" which caused a fire. The bomber injured his hand during the incident, but there was no danger to his life and he was immediately sent to hospital.
Police gave his surname as Jiang, and said he was from the Inner Mongolia province.
The BBC's Stephen McDonell at the scene says that normal activities have since resumed at the embassy, with people still lining up for visa applications.
There were earlier reports that police had taken away a woman who had tried to set herself on fire near the embassy at 1100 local time, several hours before the reported blast.
It is unclear if the two incidents were linked.
Attacks on sites in the Chinese capital are rare. The most serious incident in recent years saw a car ploughing into a crowd at Tiananmen Square in 2013, killing five people including the attackers. China blamed the incident on Muslim Uighur separatists.