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 25, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. OFFICIALS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BRIBERY
two former Heilongjiang government officials linked to the bribes-for-jobs case were sentenced to death in Harbin, China.
- JANUARY 24, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR BRIBERY
Xu Guojian, former head of the Organization Department of the Party's provincial committee in Jiangsu, was sentenced to death in China’s Fujian province for bribe taking.
- JANUARY 18, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH BLASTS CHINA OVER DISMAL RIGHTS RECORD
Human Rights Watch blasted China for its dismal rights record, saying it lead the world in executions.
JANUARY 17, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA. TWO PEOPLE SENTENCED TO DEATH IN INNER MONGOLIA
an Inner Mongolia court sentenced a college president to death for hiring a man to kill his former employee.
- JANUARY 11, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN WITH DEATH PENALTY PRONOUNCED INNOCENT
a farmer given the death penalty after being convicted of the rape and murder of two girls was cleared after three trials.
- JANUARY 7, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. SUPREME COURT COMMUTED 11.2 PERCENT OF 2005 DEATH SENTENCES
the Chinese Supreme People's Court commuted 11.2 percent of all death sentences submitted to it for review in 2005, state media said.
- JANUARY 5, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. CHINESE SUPREME COURT TO WITHDRAW DEATH SENTENCE REVIEW POWER - TOP JUDGE
China's top judge and president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Xiao Yang reaffirmed that the SPC was withdrawing the death sentence review power in 2006.
- JANUARY 1, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997
- JANUARY 1, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. NEW DEATH PENALTY LAWS TAKE EFFECT ON NEW YEAR'S DAY
from New Year’s Day China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) required local courts to hold open court sessions accessible to the public when hearing cases of death sentences in the second instance.
- DECEMBER 30, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. GUANGZHOU MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR FRAUD
the Guangzhou Intermediate Court sentenced Wang Risheng to death with a two-year reprieve for fraud. The court said Wang was the mastermind behind a scam in which more than 2,000 people were swindled out of 110 million yuan (US$12.4 million).
- DECEMBER 23, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
six prisoners in central China were sentenced to death after they escaped a prison and were later caught.
six prisoners in central China were sentenced to death after they escaped a prison and were later caught.
- DECEMBER 22, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR NATHOUSE KILLING
gang leader Qi Bing was sentenced to death for manslaughter by the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, China. It was alleged that Qi, 31, and six members of his gang started a quarrel in a bathhouse, killing one person and injuring three others on
- DECEMBER 20, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. 'KINDERGARTEN KILLER' EXECUTED FOR MURDERS
Fu Hegong, a 31-year-old man dubbed the "kindergarten killer", convicted of murdering a teacher, a 5-year-old boy and three other people, was executed.
- DECEMBER 20, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. BANK MANAGER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TAKING BRIBES
Wen Mengjie, 49, was sentenced to death for accepting bribes and embezzling public funds worth CNY15 million (US$1.85 million), Chinese media said.
- DECEMBER 17, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. GUIZHOU ROAD CHIEF EXECUTED FOR BRIBERY
Lu Wanli, the former head of the Communications Department of Southwest China's Guizhou Province, was executed for taking huge bribes, according to the Supreme People's Court.
- DECEMBER 16, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. FORMER SENIOR OFFICIAL GETS DEATH FOR GRAFT
Han Guizhi, the former head of the top advisory body of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting 7.02 million yuan (US$ 875,000) in bribes.
- DECEMBER 14, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. EX-SECURITIES CEO GETS DEATH PENALTY FOR GRAFT
Yang Yanming, formerly general manager of a Beijing trading business department with China Yinhe Securities Co. Ltd., was sentenced to death for graft and embezzling public funds.
- DECEMBER 12, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, China, sentenced Shen Daming to death with a reprieve of two years for murder.
- DECEMBER 10, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. BUSINESSMAN EXECUTED FOR MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR SCAMS
Meng Fanhui was executed in China's Liaoning province for a series of scams that included swindling local consumers out of 30 million yuan (3.7 million dollars). Meng was executed for fake business operations he instigated as director of Shenyang Longjie
- DECEMBER 7, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. CHINA TO OPEN DEATH PENALTY APPEALS PROCESS TO PUBLIC
China will make court proceedings on death penalty appeals open to the public next year in a bid to safeguard human rights, the government said.
- DECEMBER 2, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. CIVIL SERVANT SENTENCED TO DEATH ON GRAFT IN THREE GORGES RELOCATION
Du Jiang, a civil servant from Wushan County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, was sentenced to death with a two years' reprieve for embezzling and misappropriating public funds set aside for relocation in the Three Gorges Reservoir.
- DECEMBER 2, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. CHINA TO 'TIDY UP' TRADE IN EXECUTED PRISONERS' ORGANS
China broke its silence to admit for the first time that the organs of executed prisoners were sold to foreigners for transplant.
- DECEMBER 1, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
detention of "underground" Catholic bishops, priests...
detention of "underground" Catholic bishops, priests...
- DECEMBER 1, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Religious activity grew not only among the five main religions...
Religious activity grew not only among the five main religions...
- NOVEMBER 24, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. CHILD TRAFFICKING RING CRACKED, MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
a Chinese court sentenced one person to death and jailed nine people for running a child-trafficking ring in the prosperous southern province of Guangdong.
- NOVEMBER 22, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. 2 EXECUTED FOR BEIJING MURDERS
two men were executed in Beijing for killing two women and seriously injuring a man at their homes during robberies.
- NOVEMBER 20, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. A RUSH TO EXECUTIONS
“China has a brutally efficient system of capital punishment. Sentences can be carried out within months of conviction, sometimes in mobile lethal-injection vans.
- NOVEMBER 18, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. FORMER PUBLICITY OFFICIAL GETS SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR TAKING BRIBES
Gao Yong, former head of the Chinese Communist Party publicity department at the Chengdu municipal committee in southwest China's Sichuan Province, received a suspended death sentence by the Intermediate People's Court in Neijiang for taking bribes valued
- NOVEMBER 9, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SUES AFTER TORTURE, FALSE IMPRISONMENT
a Chinese man who was tortured into a false confession, jailed for nearly two years and wrongly sentenced to death was suing two local law courts for compensation.
- NOVEMBER 1, 2005ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ROBBERY AND MURDER
the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, China, sentenced Lu Shaoping, a Hubei Province native, to death for robbery and murder. His accomplice Zeng Zhaoli was given a sentence of 14 years.