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
- JANUARY 31, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: FINANCE OFFICIAL EXECUTED IN BRIBERY CASE
The former head of a Chinese state-owned asset management company was executed on 29 January 2021 on charges of taking bribes in an unusually severe penalty for a recent corruption case.
- JANUARY 25, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTY
PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR THE DEATH PENALTY IN CHINA: LESS FROM THE POPULACE BUT MORE FROM ELITES
An article published online by Cambridge University Press is the first to report the nationwide public support rate for the death penalty in China.
JANUARY 21, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN WHO KILLED JUDGE OVER DIVORCE TRIAL SENTENCED TO DEATH
A man in China was sentenced to death on 18 January 2021 for killing the judge who presided over his divorce.
- JANUARY 14, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTY
EXTRADITION TREATY BETWEEN TURKEY, CHINA ENDANGERS UIGHUR REFUGEES
The Uighur community in Turkey could be in jeopardy after a recent agreement was reached between Turkey and China, Voice Of America (VOA) wrote on 7 January 2021.
- JANUARY 13, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTY
POLAND: SWEDISH LI ZHIHUI COULD FACE DEATH PENALTY IF EXTRADITED TO CHINA
Swedish Falun Gong activist Li Zhihui, 53, risks being extradited to China after he has been detained in Poland for almost two years.
- JANUARY 12, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: FUGITIVE WHO KILLED THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH
Zeng Chunliang, a man who killed three people within six days last year, was sentenced to death by the Yichun Intermediate People's Court in Jiangxi province on 11 January 2021.
JANUARY 5, 2021ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: EX-CHAIRMAN OF HUARONG ASSET MANAGEMENT SENTENCED TO DEATH
The former chairman of China’s Huarong Asset Management Co was sentenced to death, a court in the northern city of Tianjin said on 5 January 2021, in one of the country’s highest profile corruption cases.
DECEMBER 29, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: COURT REINSTATES DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPE, MURDER OF 10-YEAR-OLD GIRL
The High People's Court in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region reheard the case of the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl, reversing the second trial verdict and sentencing the perpetrator to death.
DECEMBER 7, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN WHO KILLED SCHOOLBOYS EXECUTED
Huang Yichuan, the man who killed two 10-year-olds near the gate of an elementary school in Shanghai, was executed on 4 December 2020, the Shanghai Intermediate People's Court announced.
- NOVEMBER 26, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: HEBEI MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR 4 RAPES, 3 MURDERS
Wang Shujin, a man from Hebei province, was sentenced to death for intentional homicide by the Handan Intermediate People's Court in Hebei on 24 November 2020 after a retrial.
NOVEMBER 7, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: HENGFENG BANK EX-CHAIRMAN CAI SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH TWO-YEAR REPRIEVE
A Chinese court sentenced on 6 November 2020 the former chairman of Hengfeng Bank, Cai Guohua, to death with two-year reprieve after convicting him of abuse of power, corruption, embezzlement, receiving bribes and illegal loans, the court said.
NOVEMBER 5, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: NURSE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING AND COOKING DOCTOR WHO BLACKMAILED HER INTO SEX
A nurse in China on 30 October 2020 was sentenced to death for serious theft and intentional homicide.
NOVEMBER 3, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: GANG LEADER SENTENCED TO DEATH IN QINGHAI
A court in Qinghai province sentenced a leader of a mafia-style gang to death on 30 October 2020 for more than 10 crimes, including intentional homicide, and handed 38 other gang members prison terms ranging from two years to life.
OCTOBER 28, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING HIS GIRLFRIEND'S TWO-YEAR-OLD SON
The Intermediate People's Court of Xi'an on 27 October 2020 sentenced a man to death for murdering his girlfriend's two-year-old son.
SEPTEMBER 29, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TEACHER HANDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR POISONING CHILDREN
A kindergarten teacher in China on 28 September 2020 was sentenced to death for poisoning dozens of children in an act of revenge against a colleague after a fallout, that left one toddler dead.
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER KINDERGARTEN KNIFE ATTACK
A court in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on 8 September 2020 handed down the death penalty to a man over a kindergarten knife attack.
AUGUST 7, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: FOURTH CANADIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH ON DRUG CHARGES
China has sentenced a fourth Canadian citizen to death on drug charges in less than two years following a sharp downturn in ties over the arrest of an executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei.
AUGUST 6, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: CANADIAN CITIZEN SENTENCED TO DEATH ON DRUG CHARGE
China has sentenced a Canadian citizen to death on charges of manufacturing the drug ketamine amid heightened tension between the two countries.
AUGUST 1, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: OFFICIAL SENTENCED TO DEATH WITH TWO-YEAR REPRIEVE
A senior Chinese Communist Party official charged with taking bribes worth more than $100 million was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, Xinhua news agency reported on 31 July 2020.
JULY 19, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: ‘MENTALLY ILL' FATHER EXECUTED FOR MURDERING HIS DAUGHTER'S NINE-YEAR-OLD CLASSMATE
A Chinese father recovering from schizophrenia was executed on 17 July 2020 for killing a classmate of his daughter's in a school toilet following a dispute between the two children.
- JULY 13, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN EXECUTED FOR KILLING TWO AT CORONAVIRUS CHECKPOINT
A Chinese man who stabbed to death two people at a coronavirus travel checkpoint in the southwest of the country was executed on 9 July 2020, the Supreme People’s Court said.
JUNE 26, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TWO DRUG DEALERS EXECUTED
A court in China on 24 June 2020 ordered two convicted drug dealers to be executed immediately during an open trial.
- JUNE 24, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: TWO MEN GET DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAKING AND SELLING DRUGS
Two men who made and dealt drugs were sentenced to death on 23 June 2020 by Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, days ahead of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (26 June).
- JUNE 16, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTY
AUSTRALIA VOICES CONCERN OVER MAN SENTENCED TO DIE IN CHINA
Australia’s prime minister said on 16 June 2020 that his government is “very sad and concerned” by China’s sentencing of an Australian man to death for drug trafficking.
JUNE 14, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: AUSTRALIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
An Australian man on 10 June 2020 was sentenced to death in China on drug charges, federal government said, a development that could further escalate tensions between the two countries.
- JUNE 8, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: CHINESE MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING FOREIGNER
A Chinese man in East China's Jiangsu Province was recently sentenced to death in a first-instance judgment for killing a foreigner, local media Daily Express reported on 3 June 2020.
JUNE 6, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN WHO MURDERED HIS WIFE EXECUTED IN SHANGHAI
A man in Shanghai who killed his wife and hid her body in a freezer for three months was executed on 4 June 2020, according to the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.
- APRIL 23, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MANHOLE COVER THIEVES 'MAY GET DEATH SENTENCES'
The Supreme People's Court, The Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security have issued a joint statement, instructing courts to penalize people more strictly if they have been found to steal or damage manhole covers, the official P
MARCH 25, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: COURT HANDS RARE DEATH SENTENCE TO RAPIST WHO HELD GIRL CAPTIVE FOR 24 DAYS
A man has been sentenced to death in the central Hunan province for kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old girl whom he held captive in a hidden room under the floor of his home for over three weeks, domestic outlet Red Star News reported on 23 March 2020.
- MARCH 11, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DEATH PENALTY OF GANG LEADER UPHELD IN LARGEST MAFIA CASE IN HAINAN PROVINCE
A court in south China's Hainan Province on 11 March 2020 upheld the death penalty of a 200-member gang leader in the largest mafia case since the founding of the province.