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
- DECEMBER 8, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A court in southwest China's Sichuan province sentenced...
A court in southwest China's Sichuan province sentenced five people to death for selling heroin, state media reported
- DECEMBER 3, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Four gang leaders, Yao Zhihong, He Jianbiao, Li Zhibing...
Four gang leaders, Yao Zhihong, He Jianbiao, Li Zhibing and Zhou Limin, were given death sentences by the Shaoyang City Intermediate People's Court in Hunan province
- DECEMBER 2, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A policeman in central China's Anhui province, identified...
A policeman in central China's Anhui province, identified only by his surname Dai, was executed after being convicted of strangling his mistress to death, state press reported
- NOVEMBER 30, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Huang Yaquan and Huang Shengyu, two prisoners wrongly...
Huang Yaquan and Huang Shengyu, two prisoners wrongly convicted of robbery in March 1994 and given suspended death sentences were released and given compensation by a court in southern China's Hainan province
- NOVEMBER 30, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Xie Deming and Cui Wenxian, two leaders of a gang accused...
Xie Deming and Cui Wenxian, two leaders of a gang accused of trafficking 118 babies, were sentenced to death by the Yulin city Intermediate People's Court in the southern China, state media said
- NOVEMBER 28, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese couple were sentenced to death for the murder...
A Chinese couple were sentenced to death for the murder of 12 women who had been lured with offers of jobs, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported
- NOVEMBER 27, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese man who beheaded a crying baby during a botched...
A Chinese man who beheaded a crying baby during a botched 10 yuan (1
- NOVEMBER 23, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A court in northeast China sentenced three people to...
A court in northeast China sentenced three people to death for defrauding 6,400 people through investment schemes, state media said
- NOVEMBER 21, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three men were executed in Guangdong for robbery and...
Three men were executed in Guangdong for robbery and murder immediately after being sentenced at mass sentencing rallies held on November 21 at seven different locations in the provincial capital, Guangzhou, the Xinxi Shibao newspaper said
- NOVEMBER 21, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A drug addict from Beijing and three people from southern...
A drug addict from Beijing and three people from southern China's Guangdong province were executed for drug-related crimes, state media reported
- NOVEMBER 21, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Li Changjiang, a hired assassin, was executed after...
Li Changjiang, a hired assassin, was executed after being convicted of the murder of the woman who hired him
- NOVEMBER 19, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Intermediate People's Court of Changsha, capital...
The Intermediate People's Court of Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, has sentenced Zhang Xiufa to death with a two-year reprieve and confiscated all his personal property for accepting huge bribes
- NOVEMBER 17, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Li Dawei, a Chinese businessman, was sentenced to death...
Li Dawei, a Chinese businessman, was sentenced to death for bank fraud by an intermediate court in Xian city, northern Shaanxi province, after he promised a company high interest rates but swindled it out of some 29
- NOVEMBER 17, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A man who allegedly killed and dismembered his male...
A man who allegedly killed and dismembered his male lover was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve
- NOVEMBER 15, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Huang Ligang, 22 and Cheng Liang 29, were executed...
Huang Ligang, 22 and Cheng Liang 29, were executed for the murder of a Taiwanese couple and their four year-old daughter
- NOVEMBER 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Li Zhen, the former director of the State Taxation...
Li Zhen, the former director of the State Taxation Bureau in China's northern Hebei province, was executed for taking huge bribes and embezzling public funds, state media reported
- NOVEMBER 13, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court imposed...
The Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court imposed the death penalty on Wang Hao, after convicting him of robbery and murder
- NOVEMBER 4, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Huang Mingxi, a 41 year old Chinese restaurant owner,...
Huang Mingxi, a 41 year old Chinese restaurant owner, was executed in accordance with a ruling from the Beijing No
- NOVEMBER 3, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two men were sentenced to death by a Beijing intermediate...
Two men were sentenced to death by a Beijing intermediate court for fraud involving the buying and selling of value-added tax (VAT) vouchers that were eventually used in writing off some 393 million (47 million dollars) in taxes, state press said
- NOVEMBER 3, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zhou Kun, a Chinese police officer given a national...
Zhou Kun, a Chinese police officer given a national award for huge drug busts, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by a central Chinese court after being convicted of trafficking 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds) of heroin
- OCTOBER 31, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Jiangmen Intermediate People's Court, in Guangdong...
The Jiangmen Intermediate People's Court, in Guangdong Province, China, sentenced to death 53 year old Xie Jianzhuo, deputy director of the Jiangmen urban district government general office, for embezzling 12
- OCTOBER 29, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International urged the European Union to rethink...
Amnesty International urged the European Union to rethink its China policy, saying the Asian country's economic success overshadows a justice system plagued with human rights abuses
- OCTOBER 28, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Hu Qineng, an official convicted in what was called...
Hu Qineng, an official convicted in what was called the biggest corruption case in southwest China's Chongqing municipality, was executed for embezzlement
- OCTOBER 27, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court sentenced...
The Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Wang Jie, a 29-year-old woman, to death and fined her 150,000 yuan (US$ 18,072) for murder, fraud and theft
- OCTOBER 27, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court sentenced...
The Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Sun Chaoyue to death, with two-year probation, for drug trafficking and illegally selling, transporting and possessing guns
- OCTOBER 24, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ujimamadi Abbas, a Uighur Muslim leader who campaigned...
Ujimamadi Abbas, a Uighur Muslim leader who campaigned for the establishment of an East Turkestan state, was executed in Xinjiang, the South China Morning Post reported
- OCTOBER 16, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Wang Furong, a teacher in northwest China, was sentenced...
Wang Furong, a teacher in northwest China, was sentenced to death in the first instance for raping five female students, according to the local court in northeast China's Shaanxi Province
- OCTOBER 14, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Li Yushu, former vice-mayor of Leshan in southwest...
Li Yushu, former vice-mayor of Leshan in southwest China's Sichuan Province, was executed after being convicted of abusing his authority to take bribes valued at 8
- OCTOBER 10, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
School teacher Wang Furong was sentenced to death for...
School teacher Wang Furong was sentenced to death for raping five young pupils and molesting other children at a rural school in northern China's Shaanxi province
- OCTOBER 1, 2003ChinaDEATH PENALTY
From this date all those who engaged in the illegal...
From this date all those who engaged in the illegal making, buying, selling, transporting or storing of tetramine, a hyper-toxic rat poison, and other prohibited hyper-toxic chemicals, would face serious punishment including the death penalty, Xinhua News