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
- 2,785
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 2,785 news items on China, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- JUNE 30, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA CONVICTS 99% OF DEFENDANTS IN CRIMINAL TRIALS. REVERSING A CONVICTION IS HARD
China is trying to reduce the number of wrongful convictions in its legal system. One man's more than two decades-long fight on death row shows why that's so difficult.
- JUNE 25, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA THREATENS DEATH PENALTY FOR 'DIEHARD' TAIWAN SEPARATISTS
China on June 21, 2024 threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for "diehard" Taiwan independence separatists, a ratcheting up of pressure even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island.
MAY 29, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER CHINA HUARONG INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LIMITED GENERAL MANAGER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TAKING BRIBES
Bai Tianhui, former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings Limited, was sentenced to death for taking huge amounts of bribes by a court in Tianjin on May 28, 2024.
MAY 13, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER POLITICAL ADVISOR GIVEN DEATH SENTENCE WITH REPRIEVE
Sun Yuanliang, a former senior political advisor of northeast China's Liaoning Province, was sentenced to death, with a two-year reprieve, for bribery on May 9, 2024.
APRIL 30, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN WHO FATALLY STABBED WIFE DURING DIVORCE COOLING-OFF SENTENCED TO DEATH
A man who killed his wife during their divorce cooling-off period was given a death penalty in the first trial by a court in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province on April 25, 2024.
- APRIL 17, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA INDICATES MAN EXECUTED FOR SPYING HAD SOLD SECRETS TO US
China indicated for the first time on April 15, 2024 that a man executed for spying in 2016 had sold secrets to the United States.
- FEBRUARY 21, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN EXECUTED FOR ROBBERY AND DESECRATING VICTIM'S CORPSE
A man convicted of robbing a woman, murdering her, and desecrating her body has been executed, Beijing Youth Daily reported on February 19, 2024.
- FEBRUARY 12, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
FORMER HEAD OF CHINA MERCHANTS BANK GIVEN SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR ACCEPTING BRIBES
Tian Huiyu, a former president of China Merchants Bank, has been sentenced to death, suspended for two years, for accepting bribes, abusing power, trading on the basis of undisclosed information, insider trading and leaking inside information.
- FEBRUARY 8, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN WHO STABBED COLLEAGUE TO DEATH WHILE DRUNK EXECUTED
Zhang Keping, who stabbed a colleague to death while drunk in 2022, was executed on February 4, 2024 after China's top court approved his death sentence.
FEBRUARY 7, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH REPRIEVE OVER HOMICIDE
Jiang Wenhua, a former researcher at Fudan University, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on February 1, 2024 for intentional homicide.
- FEBRUARY 5, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: AUSTRALIAN WRITER YANG HENGJUN SENTENCED TO DEATH ON SPY CHARGES
Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who was arrested in China on espionage charges in 2019, on February 5, 2024 was handed a suspended death sentence by a court in Beijing.
FEBRUARY 1, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: COUPLE EXECUTED FOR DOUBLE CHILD MURDER THAT SHOCKED NATION
China on January 31, 2024 executed a couple for throwing two young children out of the window of an apartment building, in a case that caused nationwide outrage.
- JANUARY 31, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: FORMER PEKING UNIVERSITY STUDENT WHO KILLED MOTHER EXECUTED
Wu Xieyu, a former Peking University student who killed his mother, was executed on January 31, 2024 after China's top court approved his death sentence.
- JANUARY 11, 2024ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: TWO MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 1997 POISONING
Two kung fu coaches were handed death sentences in China on January 8, 2024, following their arrest in 2023 for a 1997 poisoning that killed seven children, a court said.
DECEMBER 20, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FEMALE SERIAL KILLER LAO RONGZHI EXECUTED
Lao Rongzhi, a woman in the spotlight for her involvement in multiple killings, was executed on December 18, 2023 after China's top court approved her death sentence.
DECEMBER 5, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TEACHER EXECUTED FOR RAPING STUDENTS
A middle school teacher in Longhui county, Hunan province, has been executed for raping and molesting multiple students, according to a local court.
- DECEMBER 4, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTY
PHILIPPINES SAYS CHINA HAS EXECUTED TWO FILIPINOS CONVICTED OF DRUG TRAFFICKING DESPITE APPEALS
China has executed two Filipinos for drug trafficking despite high-level Philippine government appeals to commute their death sentences to life in prison, the Philippine government said December 2, 2023.
- NOVEMBER 14, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: FORMER BANK CHIEF SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH REPRIEVE
Sun Deshun, former president of China CITIC Bank, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on November 10, 2023 for accepting bribes.
- NOVEMBER 13, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: FORMER PRIMARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL EXECUTED FOR CHILD RAPE
A former principal of a primary school in Gansu province was executed through lethal injection on November 7, 2023 following a death penalty sentence for rape and sexually molesting minors.
- OCTOBER 30, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN WHO WENT ON STABBING SPREE IN SHANGHAI SENTENCED TO DEATH
Hou Xiaofei, the man who went on a stabbing spree and injured 15 people in a hospital in Shanghai last summer, was sentenced to death by the Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court on October 27, 2023.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: COURT IMPOSES DEATH PENALTY ON CHILD ABDUCTOR
Yu Huaying, a woman who abducted and trafficked 11 children in the 1990s for financial gain, was sentenced to death by a court in Guizhou province on September 18, 2023.
- AUGUST 6, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: S. KOREAN DRUG OFFENDER EXECUTED, FIRST IN 9 YEARS
China on August 4, 2023 executed a South Korean man who was sentenced to death for selling a large amount of drugs, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.
AUGUST 3, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FORMER PARTY CHIEF OF HANGZHOU SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH TWO-YEAR REPRIEVE FOR BRIBERY
Zhou Jiangyong, former Party chief of Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province, was sentenced on July 25, 2023 to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery.
- JULY 21, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTY
ITALY - Falun Gong demonstrated in Rome
Outside the Embassy of China
- JULY 17, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: KINDERGARTEN TEACHER EXECUTED FOR POISONING 25 STUDENTS, KILLING 1
A kindergarten teacher found to have poisoned 25 of her students, killing one, has been executed, according to a court in central China.
JULY 2, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: WIFE KILLER SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SHANGHAI
A man who killed his wife and then attempted to hide her body in a freezer in Shanghai was sentenced to death on June 29, 2023.
- JUNE 29, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE ON MAN FOR ENDANGERING PUBLIC SECURITY WITH DANGEROUS METHODS
Guangdong High People's Court upheld a ruling by a lower court that sentenced Wen Qingyun to death for endangering public security with dangerous methods in a final judgment on June 28, 2023.
MAY 31, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD FOR SON WHO KILLED MOM
The death sentence handed down to a former Peking University student who killed his mother was upheld by the Fujian High People's Court on May 31, 2023.
MAY 13, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: DEATH UPHELD FOR FATHER, GIRLFRIEND IN CHILD TOSSING
A father in Chongqing who killed his two children by tossing them out of a high-rise apartment window in 2020 along with his girlfriend, who prompted him, were both sentenced to death on May 11, 2023.
APRIL 23, 2023ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR PLOUGHING CAR INTO PEDESTRIANS, KILLING 5
A driver who killed five and injured 13 others by ploughing his car into pedestrians in China in January has been sentenced to death, a Guangzhou court said on April 18, 2023.