China
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In January, the Nanyang Intermediate People's Court...
- News items in the archive
- 2,796
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
China is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 2,796 news items on China, from 1999 to today.
China is believed to carry out more executions than any other country, but the figure is a state secret: no official statistics exist, and the known cases are those reported by the press or heard in public trials. Capital punishment applies to a large number of offences, including economic and drug offences, and the system also provides for a death sentence with a two year suspension, which in practice is often converted into life imprisonment.
The news on this page is a small part of what happens, and it is the part that can be documented.
Latest news
- JANUARY 9, 2009ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DRUG BARON EXECUTED AFTER ALL ASSETS SEIZED
a man was executed for drug dealing in Guangzhou, China. Chen Bingxi was found guilty of trafficking and manufacturing 12.36 tons of crystal meth and selling and transporting more than 100 kgs of heroin.
- JANUARY 7, 2009ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DEATH SENTENCE
Sun Yonghua, a Shaanxi Province native...
- JANUARY 5, 2009ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: POISONER SENTENCED TO DEATH
two men were sentenced to death and two others were punished for their involvement in a food poisoning incident in 2007 that killed two people and put 63 others in hospital in the city in February, local media reported
- JANUARY 1, 2009ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997
- DECEMBER 30, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a village official in east China's Zhejiang Province was sentenced to death for hiring five men to murder an election rival
a village official in east China's Zhejiang Province was sentenced to death for hiring five men to murder an election rival
- DECEMBER 29, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a man was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for killing a super model after twice having sex with her
a man was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for killing a super model after twice having sex with her
- DECEMBER 29, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
three executives of the state-owned Yunnan Copper Group, China's third-largest copper producer, were sentenced in a bribery case
three executives of the state-owned Yunnan Copper Group, China's third-largest copper producer, were sentenced in a bribery case
DECEMBER 26, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: NEW RULE ALLOWS STAYS OF EXECUTION
the execution of death row criminals should be suspended for review if new relevant evidence is found, even
- DECEMBER 25, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a former provincial official in eastern China was given a suspended death sentence after being convicted of corruption and bribery
a former provincial official in eastern China was given a suspended death sentence after being convicted of corruption and bribery
DECEMBER 21, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: NEW GUIDELINE ON DEATH PENALTY
the Supreme People's Court (SPC) is working on a guideline to unify standards for the issuing of the death
- DECEMBER 18, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China sentenced the head of a human trafficking ring that lured dozens of women with promises of work
China sentenced the head of a human trafficking ring that lured dozens of women with promises of work
DECEMBER 17, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA SENTENCES 2 TO DEATH FOR ATTACK IN XINJIANG
A Chinese court sentenced two people to death for what it said was attempt to sabotage the Beijing
- DECEMBER 11, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: SWINDLER GETS SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE
a Chinese court gave a suspended death sentence to a man accused of swindling investors out of 98m yuan ($14m) through a get-rich-quick clover-growing scheme.
- DECEMBER 10, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
LAWMAKER IN CHINA'S ANHUI GETS SUSPENDED DEATH PENALTY FOR BRIBES
a local official was sentenced to death with a two-year stay for taking 6 million yuan (about US$875,000) worth of bribes, by the Fuyang Intermediate Court of east China's Anhui Province.
DECEMBER 4, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER MURDER SPREE
four men in China were sentenced to death for killing eight people over nine years, according to Beijing
- DECEMBER 1, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
FAMILY OF EXECUTED CHINESE SCIENTIST NOT TOLD OF DEATH: DAUGHTER
the family of a Chinese scientist executed for passing information to Taiwan were officially told of his death or what happened to his body, his daughter said, three days after he died.
- NOVEMBER 28, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BEIJING TAXI MURDER SPREE
a Beijing court sentenced three men to death for a spree of taxi driver killings that haunted China's capital for years.
- NOVEMBER 28, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA EXECUTES TWO CONVICTED OF SPYING
despite pleas for clemency from the Bush administration and European officials, a biomedical researcher
- NOVEMBER 27, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA DEFENDS DEATH SENTENCES FOR TAIWAN SPY
China defended its death sentence on a man spying for Taiwan saying the trial was fair.
- NOVEMBER 26, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
MAN EXECUTED IN NORTH CHINA FOR ANT-BREEDING SWINDLE
the general manager of a bogus ant-breeding project that swindled 3 billion yuan (US$417 million) from
- NOVEMBER 26, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: EX-SOCCER STAR AND FRIEND GET DEATH SENTENCES
a former soccer player was sentenced to death with two years' reprieve in China for killing a man after failing to pay gambling debts last year.
- NOVEMBER 26, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA POSTPONES DEATH FOR MAN CONVICTED OF SPYING
an international campaign to save the life of a Chinese businessman sentenced to death after being convicted of spying for Taiwan may have been a factor in the Chinese government's apparent decision to delay his execution by at least a day.
- NOVEMBER 26, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
MAN EXECUTED FOR POLICE KILLINGS IN CHINA
a 28-year-old man convicted of killing six policemen in Shanghai was executed...
- NOVEMBER 25, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA CRACKS ORGANISED CRIME GANG
in a case involving serious organised crimes...
- NOVEMBER 25, 2008UgandaDEATH PENALTY
EIGHT AFRICANS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN CHINA FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
eight Africans were sentenced to death in southern China after being convicted of drug smuggling, state press reported.
- NOVEMBER 25, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES CHINA TO STOP THE EXECUTION OF WO WEIHAN
Amnesty International called on the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in China to pardon 59 year-old medical scientist Wo Weihan
- NOVEMBER 22, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA MAY SOON EXECUTE ACCUSED TAIWAN SPY
China could soon execute a man sentenced to death for spying for diplomatic and political rival Taiwan...
NOVEMBER 20, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. TWO OFFICIALS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Two former officials from China's Hunan Province were sentenced to death for taking bribes.
- NOVEMBER 17, 2008ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING LOVER
a man was sentenced to death in China for strangling his lover to death and causing an explosion that injured three people in August 2007, Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court ruled
- NOVEMBER 17, 2008TaiwanDEATH PENALTY
CHINA SENTENCES TWO TAIWANESE TO DEATH FO DRUG DEALING
a Chinese court sentenced two Taiwanese, convicted of trafficking heroin from Myanmar, to death.