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
- DECEMBER 19, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
DRUG KINGPIN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SOUTH CHINA
Chen Bingxi, a notorious drug kingpin in south China...
- DECEMBER 18, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RUNNING CART INTO WORKERS
a man was sentenced to death in Yiwu in China’s Zhejiang Province for intentionally ramming his tipcart into a crowd, killing three and injuring nine.
- DECEMBER 16, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MIGRANT WORKER EXECUTED FOR MURDER
Pang Maosheng, a 29 year old migrant worker who resented wealthy people, was executed in Beijing after being convicted of a robbery and extortion spree that left one woman dead.
- DECEMBER 14, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA EXECUTES TWO FORMER BANK EMPLOYEES FOR FRAUD
two ex-employees of China's third-largest bank were put to death by lethal injection for defrauding customers of millions of dollars.
- DECEMBER 13, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. FIREWORKS FACTORY MANAGER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BLAST KILLING 36
Shen Xishuan, legal representative of Lilin Firecrackers Company Ltd. in Linqi Town, Linzhou City in China’s Henan Province, was sentenced to death at the Intermediate People's Court of Anyang City with a two-year reprieve for illegally trading explosives
- DECEMBER 7, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE MAN GETS SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDERING JAPANESE
a court in Shenyang, northeastern China, sentenced 27-year-old Chinese national Zhou Bo to death for killing Japanese national Masahiko Sato in Fukuoka, south-western Japan, in May 2005.
- DECEMBER 6, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. DEATH FOR WOMAN WHO STABBED LOVER TO DEATH
the shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Liao Yan...
DECEMBER 6, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINESE SECRETLY EXECUTED AFTER PROTEST
a court in southwestern China has secretly executed a man who took part in an environmental protest which turned into a riot, a lawyer and a family member said. Three others were jailed, one of them for life, they said.
- DECEMBER 4, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN ANHUI FOR SERIAL RAPE
Shi Jidong, a farmer from Dingyuan, a county in east China's Anhui Province, was sentenced to death after being convicted of raping three girls and attempting to rape six more.
- DECEMBER 1, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. STATE EXECUTES MAN FOR MURDERS
Zhang Xianguang, 39, was executed immediately after a public trial in Shenyang...
- NOVEMBER 30, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH IN FATAL COUNTERFEIT LIQUOR CASE
the Higher People's Court in China’s Guangdong Province sentenced 27-year-old Cheng Caiming to death in the last instance for a counterfeit liquor scandal that left 14 people dead and 41 others injured.
- NOVEMBER 29, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR HAMMER KILLINGS
the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang Weiyi...
NOVEMBER 29, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. THREE PROTESTANT LEADERS CONDEMNED WITHOUT PROOF EXECUTED IN SECRET
the leaders of a Protestant group “Three Grades of Servants”, condemned to death without proof, were executed in secret last week, according to the China Aid Association (CAA), a US-based non-governmental organisation that lobbies for religious freedom in
- NOVEMBER 27, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED OF STABBING 12 TO DEATH
Shi Yuejun, 35, was sentenced to death for stabbing 12 people to death and injured five in a six-day spree in Tonghua in northeast China's Jilin Province.
- NOVEMBER 24, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Qiao Ruqian...
- NOVEMBER 21, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA WILL NOT EXECUTE CANADIAN ACCUSED OF TERRORISM
Canada received assurances from Beijing that Huseyin Celil, 37...
- NOVEMBER 17, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. FOUR BROTHERS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RUNNING CRIME GANG
four brothers who headed a north China organized crime gang were sentenced to death at the Hebei Provincial Higher People's Court.
NOVEMBER 17, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA ADMITS ORGANS FROM EXECUTED PRISONERS SOLD TO TOURISTS
China acknowledged the practice of "transplant tourism," in which the organs of executed prisoners are sold to foreigners, and said it wants to regulate the sale of kidneys, livers and other body parts.
- NOVEMBER 16, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. DEATH PENALTY FOR WEAPONS SMUGGLERS
China's Supreme People's Court announced that anyone found smuggling more than ten artillery shells across the country's borders would receive the death penalty or life imprisonment.
- NOVEMBER 13, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. INTERNET CAFE BOMBERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
unemployed Lu Dongming, 45, and his 24-year-old nephew Lu Kuan were sentenced to death for detonating homemade bombs in two Internet cafes in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei...
- NOVEMBER 9, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF SEVEN NIGHTCLUB DANCERS
a former manager of an elevator factory was sentenced to death for murdering and dismembering seven women he paid to dance with in nightclubs in the northeastern city of Shenyang.
- NOVEMBER 9, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. CHIEF JUDGE FACES DEATH PENALTY
the former chief judge of China's Hunan Higher People's Court was sentenced to death at a trial in Beijing for accepting millions of yuan worth of bribes.
NOVEMBER 9, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. COURTS ORDERED TO RESTRICT USE OF DEATH PENALTY
in China's latest move to control the use of the death penalty, the chief justice urged courts to exercise extreme caution when sentencing people to death, saying that every judgement must stand the test of time.
- NOVEMBER 2, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA DOUBLES NUMBER OF JUDGES REVIEWING DEATH SENTENCES
China's Supreme Court doubled the size of its death penalty review team to 100 judges to cope with a new law requiring the court to approve all executions, a news report said.
- OCTOBER 28, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
Chen Bijun was sentenced to death for murder by the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
OCTOBER 26, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. FOUR MEN EXECUTED FOR DESTROYING OIL PIPELINES IN ZHENGZHOU
four men were executed for destroying oil pipelines in Central China's Henan Province.
- OCTOBER 25, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. ‘TOP GANGSTER’ SENTECED TO DEATH
the man said to be Shanghai's "top gangster" has been sentenced to death for drug trafficking and other crimes, a state-run newspaper reported on Wednesday.
- OCTOBER 25, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA PASSES DEATH SENTENCES ON GUN RACKETEERS
a court in western China upheld death sentences against two leaders of a gun-running racket that reached into neighbouring Pakistan.
- OCTOBER 20, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN EXECUTED FOR MURDER OF STEPDAUGHTER
a man was executed in Longyan, in China’s Fujian Province, for killing his four-year-old stepdaughter.
- OCTOBER 19, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED OF TEMPLE KILLINGS
a Chinese farmer was sentenced to death for the murder of 10 people in a Taoist temple in north-west China. Qiu Xinghua, 47, was found guilty of the murders at the Tiewadian temple in Ankang, in the country's Shaanxi province.