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
JULY 29, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. TWO MEN EXECUTED FOR OIL THEFT
Ding Hanqin and Luo Xingguo, two men who led an oil theft ring, were executed in Guangyuan City, southwestern China's Sichuan Province, for stealing oil from a pipeline in western China.
JULY 25, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. FORMER CHINESE POLICEMAN LIFTS LID ON ORGAN HARVESTING
earlier in the month a Canadian human rights organisation revealed the extent of political prisoners being executed in China and then harvested for body parts.
- JULY 24, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. DUO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF 5
the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court sentenced two gang leaders convicted of killing five people.
- JULY 18, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR HACKING REVENGE
Liang Jiqian, a man in Qinzhou in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was sentenced to death after being convicted of hacking to death five children and one woman in an act of revenge.
- JULY 18, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. DEPUTY MAYOR GIVEN SUSPENDED DEATH PENALTY FOR CORRUPTION
Wang Qingming, former deputy county magistrate of Guiding in China’s Guizhou province, was sentenced to death for corruption and accepting bribes of more than 8m yuan [999,625 US dollars].
- JULY 14, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH FOR KILING SIX BOYS
a Chinese court sentenced Gong Runbo to death for killing six boys. Gong, 33...
JULY 12, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYEU. THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CONDEMNS CHINA ON HUMAN AND RELIGIOUS RIGHTS
the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has, with a wide majority, adopted a report on relations between the European Union and China which asks Beijing for greater respect of human rights, religious freedom and freedom of information.
JULY 10, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. SIX PROTESTANT PASTORS CONDEMNED TO DEATH
The Chinese justice system has condemned six Protestant leaders to death for homicide and fraud.
JULY 7, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. GUARD EXECUTED FOR INMATE'S DEATH
it was reported that a prison warden in northeast China was executed for beating and ordering other guards to torture an inmate to death.
- JULY 6, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. TEAM SAYS CHINA HARVESTS FALUN GONG ORGANS
a respected Canadian human rights lawyer and a former Canadian cabinet member lent their weight to charges that China has been killing Falun Gong dissidents so it can use their organs.
JULY 3, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. SEVEN EXECUTED FOR KIDNAPPING-MURDER OF MIGRANT WORKER
seven gang members were executed in eastern China for their role in the murders of 17 Chinese workers who had been kidnapped in Cambodia and held for ransom, Xinhua news agency reported.
- JULY 1, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. COURTS BEGIN OPEN HEARINGS IN DEATH PENALTY CASES
China's high courts began open hearings for death penalty cases in a long-awaited move aimed at raising the quality of justice in capital punishment cases.
- JUNE 28, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. 52 EXECUTED ON ANTI-DRUG DAY
according to reports from the Chinese government's state-run media organization, Xinhua News Agency, China has executed in the last week as many as 52 people found guilty of drug law violations.
- JUNE 27, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. TWO MEN EXECUTED FOR INTERNET CAFE FIRE
two men were executed for an arson attack at an Internet cafe in Longchuan County, in southern China's Guangdong Province.
- JUNE 27, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DEATH SENTENCE FINALISED FOR MAN IN MURDER-ROBBERY CASE
Japan's Supreme Court finalised a death sentence for a Chinese man by upholding a high court ruling on him over a murder-robbery on May 25...
- JUNE 27, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CANADIAN EXTRADITED FROM UZBEKISTAN FACES POSSIBLE DEATH PENALTY IN CHINA
Canadian citizen Huseyincan Celil was extradited from Uzbekistan to China where he may be executed for founding a political party to represent a minority ethnic group in Xinjiang province, Canada's foreign affairs spokeswoman Kim Girtel told AFP. Celil, 3
- JUNE 26, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. OILFIELD FIRM CHIEF SENTENCED TO DEATH
China sentenced to death Li Rongxing, the former president of a firm connected with the country's number-two oil field, for taking bribes and embezzling nearly 37 million yuan ($4.62 million).
- JUNE 25, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. TWO MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG MAKING IN NORTHWEST CHINA
two people were sentenced to death for manufacturing illegal drugs in northwest China.
- JUNE 21, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, China, sentenced Shi Jianjian, 26, to death for robbery and murder.
- JUNE 15, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY FOR CORRUPTION - OFFICIAL
"According to data collected over the past decade, it is not pragmatic to execute officials who are convicted of corruption," the Hunan Province provincial organization deputy director, Wang Minggao, said.
- JUNE 9, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. WOMAN EXECUTED FOR KILLING NIECE
a court in China’s Yunnan Province executed a woman who drowned her niece.
- JUNE 9, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. FOUR EXECUTED FOR KILLING, ROBBERY
four young Chinese men were executed in the capital Beijing for robbery and murder. Yan Shusen, Wang Jianzhong, Zhao Qian and Sun Shizhong -- all peasants in their early 20s -- were executed for robbing a van driver before killing him in 2004.
- JUNE 7, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MEN EXECUTED FOR KILLED WOMAN
the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court executed Lu Shuangfu and Ren Jianhua for the murder of a woman in 2004.
- JUNE 6, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
when Liu Zhixiang was given a suspended death sentence in April 2006...
when Liu Zhixiang was given a suspended death sentence in April 2006...
- JUNE 6, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN EXECUTED FOR MURDER OF BOSS’ FAMILY
a bank official was executed for killing his boss' family of three after a dispute in Gushi County in China’s Henan Province.
- JUNE 1, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. ZHEJIANG PROVINCE TO EXECUTE PEOPLE BY LETHAL INJECTION
the Zhejiang Provincial Supreme Court announced that as of September 1 the province would start to implement death by lethal injection instead of putting convicts before a firing squad.
- JUNE 1, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. HONG KONG MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Li Qingyuan and an accomplice, Liu Xisong, were sentenced to death by a court in the southern town of Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong, after being convicted of drug trafficking.
JUNE 1, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCANADA. COURT DELAYS DEPORTATION OF CHINESE FUGITIVE LAI
Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing, the alleged kingpin of a multi-billion-dollar smuggling operation, will not be deported on June 2 as planned, Canada's Federal Court ruled.
- MAY 31, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING PIMP
Deng Jianping was sentenced to death with a reprieve of two years by the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court for manslaughter.
- MAY 31, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. THREE MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ORGANIZED CRIME
three leaders of a 31-member organized crime ring in east China were given death sentences after being convicted of 10 charges, including murder.