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
- APRIL 8, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Liu Xiaojun was sentenced to death after being convicted...
Liu Xiaojun was sentenced to death after being convicted by the Intermediate People's Court of Tieling City, in northeast China's Liaoning Province, of leading a 34 member criminal gang
- APRIL 6, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Muhubuer Zhumabayi, a 27-year-old Kazak national, was...
Muhubuer Zhumabayi, a 27-year-old Kazak national, was sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court in Xian, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, after being convicted of killing a fellow villager with a knife on 6 July 2003
- APRIL 6, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
seven men named Song Baoliang, Li Yong, Wang Zhen, Liu Qisheng...
seven men named Song Baoliang, Li Yong, Wang Zhen, Liu Qisheng...
- APRIL 2, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three people received the death penalty in Guangzhou...
Three people received the death penalty in Guangzhou city three people were sentenced to death by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court for their role in the largest ecstasy and ice trafficking case in China
- APRIL 2, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
in its initial trial, the Jiaozuo Intermediate People's Court in Henan Province...
in its initial trial, the Jiaozuo Intermediate People's Court in Henan Province...
- MARCH 31, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that China executed two men extradited...
It was reported that China executed two men extradited from neighboring Kyrgyzstan who were convicted of murdering a Chinese diplomat and his driver in the Central Asian country
- MARCH 25, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
South Korea was trying to confirm reports that about...
South Korea was trying to confirm reports that about 100 North Korean refugees at a detention centre in China were on hunger strike to protest plans to repatriate them
- MARCH 22, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Xu Lijie, 42, was sentenced to death by the Bozhou...
Xu Lijie, 42, was sentenced to death by the Bozhou City Intermediate People's Court of east China's Anhui Province
- MARCH 22, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International called for a moratorium on the...
Amnesty International called for a moratorium on the death penalty in China, saying the country's dysfunctional criminal justice system meant many innocent people were being executed
- MARCH 22, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ten people convicted of violent robbery and kidnapping...
Ten people convicted of violent robbery and kidnapping were sentenced to death in southern China's Shenzhen city, with four of them given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve
- MARCH 22, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six leading members of a gang of robbers were handed...
Six leading members of a gang of robbers were handed death death sentences in Shenzhen, China
- MARCH 19, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Chinese national Jin Yugang, 37, was executed by hanging...
Chinese national Jin Yugang, 37, was executed by hanging in Changi Prison, Singapore, after being convicted of stabbing roommate and colleague Wang Hong to death after a violent quarrel at a restaurant on February 4, 2002
- MARCH 19, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Wang Baosheng, 50, Lu Wenlin and Wu Zhijun were sentenced...
Wang Baosheng, 50, Lu Wenlin and Wu Zhijun were sentenced to death by the No 1 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing on charges of voluntary manslaughter and forging value-added invoices
- MARCH 18, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Wang Daohua, Yin Yaxiong, Zhu Zhongfa and Zheng Qiukang,...
Wang Daohua, Yin Yaxiong, Zhu Zhongfa and Zheng Qiukang, four convicted drug traffickers, were executed and Wang Yan, another member of the gang, was given a suspended death sentence on March 17 in Jinhua City of east China's Zhejiang Province
- MARCH 18, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that Zhong Zubin and Tang Shangming,...
It was reported that Zhong Zubin and Tang Shangming, two Chinese men, were sentenced to death in Beihai City of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region for smuggling heroin
- MARCH 16, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Former Czech president Vaclav Havel condemned China...
Former Czech president Vaclav Havel condemned China for its threat to execute a Tibetan monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche
- MARCH 15, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China sentences to death and immediately executes around...
China sentences to death and immediately executes around 10,000 convicted criminals every year, according to Chen Zhonglin, a delegate who was seeking to curb the practice at China's parliamentary session
- MARCH 13, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zhao Bingzhi, the director of the China Criminology...
Zhao Bingzhi, the director of the China Criminology Society, suggested that the Supreme People's Court withdraw provincial high courts' authority to hand down the death penalty
- MARCH 12, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
It was announced that Yelena Timchenko, a Russian woman...
It was announced that Yelena Timchenko, a Russian woman sentenced to death in China in March 2002 for drugs trafficking, could have her punishment eased
- MARCH 12, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zheng Hongjun and Zheng Jinning, two leaders of a smuggling...
Zheng Hongjun and Zheng Jinning, two leaders of a smuggling gang, were sentenced to death by the People's Intermediate Court in Guangzhou on charges of trafficking diesel oil from Hong Kong
- MARCH 10, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China might strip lower courts of the power to impose...
China might strip lower courts of the power to impose the death penalty as the Beijing News reported that the People's Supreme Court said it was "considering taking back the right to approve death sentences"
- MARCH 10, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China's top legal experts vowed there would be no let-up...
China's top legal experts vowed there would be no let-up in the war on graft, warning that even ranking officials should not consider themselves above the law
- MARCH 10, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Members of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RTYC)...
Members of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RTYC) and the Regional Tibetan Women's Association from Bylakuppe, Hunsur, Kollegal, and Mysore staged a candlelight demonstration at the Town Hall in Mysore, India, to draw public attention to the death sen
- MARCH 9, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China's security tsar quietly ordered fewer executions...
China's security tsar quietly ordered fewer executions in keeping with a drive by the new leadership to cultivate a gentler image for the authoritarian government, two independent sources said
- MARCH 8, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Human Rights Watch accused China of shirking its responsibilities...
Human Rights Watch accused China of shirking its responsibilities by seeking to classify North Korean refugees as illegal immigrants and return them to almost certain persecution
- MARCH 8, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Gao Pan was executed for a crime committed in 2001, possibly before he was 18 years old.
Gao Pan was executed for a crime committed in 2001, possibly before he was 18 years old.
- MARCH 5, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Xu Ming, Luo Shoujun, Cao Zhenjun, three members of...
Xu Ming, Luo Shoujun, Cao Zhenjun, three members of a mafia-like gang, were sentenced to death by an intermediate court in Dalian city, Liaoning province in northeastern China, for theft, assault and kidnapping
- MARCH 3, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Lin Qimu and Xia Yuechang were executed in China for causing an explosion.
Lin Qimu and Xia Yuechang were executed in China for causing an explosion.
- MARCH 2, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
With approval from the Supreme People's Court of China,...
With approval from the Supreme People's Court of China, brothers Liao Shaohui and Liao Shaowu, both in their thirties, were executed after being convicted of forging value-added invoices
- MARCH 2, 2004ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Beijing court sentenced taxi driver Li Pingping to...
A Beijing court sentenced taxi driver Li Pingping to death for killing seven people, three of which he dismembered, and sentenced his wife to 15 years in prison for serving as his accomplice and harbouring loot