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
- DECEMBER 12, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Bao Zhufa, a farmer in central China who killed five people with a hammer, was sentenced to death.
Bao Zhufa, a farmer in central China who killed five people with a hammer, was sentenced to death.
- DECEMBER 12, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ma Weihua, a Chinese drug smuggler who was forced to have an abortion...
Ma Weihua, a Chinese drug smuggler who was forced to have an abortion...
- DECEMBER 10, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
hundreds of Tibetans took to the streets of New Delhi in a silent protest march
hundreds of Tibetans took to the streets of New Delhi in a silent protest march
- DECEMBER 9, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
three people were executed in south-west China's Yunnan Province for abducting and selling 11 children.
three people were executed in south-west China's Yunnan Province for abducting and selling 11 children.
- DECEMBER 6, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
four South Korean citizens received suspended death sentences
four South Korean citizens received suspended death sentences
- DECEMBER 3, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
a court in Shanghai handed down a suspended death sentence
a court in Shanghai handed down a suspended death sentence
- DECEMBER 2, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama...
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama...
- NOVEMBER 23, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Wang Lixin, a Chinese boss who forced two of his employees...
Wang Lixin, a Chinese boss who forced two of his employees...
- NOVEMBER 18, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
with the adoption of a joint resolution from six political groups...
with the adoption of a joint resolution from six political groups...
- NOVEMBER 13, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ding Qikui was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension...
Ding Qikui was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension for killing a fellow salesman who had recruited him to a pyramid sales network
- NOVEMBER 9, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Bian Zhong, a Beijing accountant, was sentenced to...
Bian Zhong, a Beijing accountant, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in the city's largest corruption case in recent years
- NOVEMBER 6, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Bus driver Jia Qingyou, 37, was sentenced to death...
Bus driver Jia Qingyou, 37, was sentenced to death for the stabbing of 24 school children in eastern Shandong Province, China, in September 2004
- NOVEMBER 4, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Peng Hongju, a woman who was part of a gang of kidnappers,...
Peng Hongju, a woman who was part of a gang of kidnappers, was sentenced to death after police rescued her from an ordeal in which she herself was trafficked into a forced marriage
- NOVEMBER 1, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ma Shungen, 45, was sentenced to death by the Shanghai...
Ma Shungen, 45, was sentenced to death by the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court, China, and Yang Shuxin was sentenced to 15 years
- OCTOBER 29, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Chen Xiaomei, a Chinese widow who used rat poison to...
Chen Xiaomei, a Chinese widow who used rat poison to kill 10 guests at a funeral party for her husband, was executed
- OCTOBER 19, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A woman convicted in the largest case of drug trafficking...
A woman convicted in the largest case of drug trafficking in China's capital in more than 50 years was executed, Chinanews
- OCTOBER 16, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
"There remains a conviction that only a penalty as...
"There remains a conviction that only a penalty as absolute as death is just for serious crime
- OCTOBER 15, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai No
The Shanghai No
- OCTOBER 14, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two Nepalese drug traffickers were sentenced to death...
Two Nepalese drug traffickers were sentenced to death by a criminal tribunal in the Tibetan capital Lhasa
- OCTOBER 14, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three criminals who kidnapped famous Chinese actor...
Three criminals who kidnapped famous Chinese actor Wu Ruofu and another three people, were sentenced to death by the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court
- OCTOBER 13, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China should reform its penal code to observe the international...
China should reform its penal code to observe the international agreements it had undersigned, the deputy president of the People's Supreme Court Huang Songyu said
- OCTOBER 12, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two Chinese drug dealers were executed by lethal injection...
Two Chinese drug dealers were executed by lethal injection in Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu province
- OCTOBER 10, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court in south...
The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court in south China's Guangdong Province sentenced to death Zhang Qisheng and sentenced nine others to terms of up to life imprisonment for trafficking 12
- OCTOBER 6, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese court sentenced two people to death and another...
A Chinese court sentenced two people to death and another to life in jail after they were convicted of smuggling the pelts of nearly 1,400 endangered animals into Tibet
- OCTOBER 2, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China cracked a 36-member gang that kidnapped and sold...
China cracked a 36-member gang that kidnapped and sold 96 women and children over a dozen years, sentencing two to death and handing the others at least two years' jail time
- OCTOBER 1, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A police officer in central China's Henan province...
A police officer in central China's Henan province was sentenced to death for robbing, raping and murdering six women
- OCTOBER 1, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Several hundred Chinese schoolchildren watched public...
Several hundred Chinese schoolchildren watched public sentencings for criminals who were later executed, Amnesty International said
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China has sentenced to death a contract killer known...
China has sentenced to death a contract killer known as Hitman number one who murdered nine people, including a friend whose head and hands he boiled after cutting up the body, Xinhua news agency said
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China denied reports that two Nepalese Maoist guerrillas...
China denied reports that two Nepalese Maoist guerrillas suspected of smuggling arms across the Himalayan border had been sentenced to death, but confirmed that they were being tried
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China said it had detained a rights activist working...
China said it had detained a rights activist working as a researcher with The New York Times on charges of possessing "state secrets," a charge which could bring the death penalty according to his lawyer Mo Shaoping