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
MARCH 3, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR VIRUS CHECKPOINT KILLING
A Chinese court on 1st March 2020 sentenced a man to death for fatally stabbing two officials at a checkpoint set up to control the spread of the new coronavirus outbreak.
FEBRUARY 20, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: NOTORIOUS GANG LEADER EXECUTED
Sun Xiaoguo, a notorious culprit of multiple high-profile crimes in China, was executed on 20 February 2020 in south-west China's Yunnan province.
FEBRUARY 18, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: HIDING CORONAVIRUS MAY BE PUNISHABLE BY DEATH, COURT SAYS
Intentionally hiding or misreporting symptoms related to the novel coronavirus constitutes a criminal offense that could incur a death penalty, according to a notice issued on 15 February 2020 by the Chinese court.
FEBRUARY 14, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN WHO KILLED BEIJING DOCTOR SENTENCED TO DEATH
Sun Wenbin who fatally stabbed a doctor at a hospital in Beijing last month was sentenced to death by the Beijing No 3 Intermediate People's Court on 16 January 2020.
JANUARY 12, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR GANG LEADER IN HOMICIDE, BURIAL
The death penalty for Du Shaoping, who was convicted of killing a man and then burying him under a school sports ground, was upheld by the Hunan High People’s Court on 10 January 2020.
- JANUARY 1, 2020ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
In February 2011, China dropped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes
DECEMBER 31, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD FOR SHANGHAI MAN FOR KILLING STUDENTS
Shanghai Municipal Higher People's Court on 30 December 2019 upheld the death sentence for a man who stabbed and killed two school children outside a primary school in Shanghai last year.
DECEMBER 31, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: DEATH PENALTY UPHELD FOR GANG LEADER IN RAPE CASES
Twenty-one years after being sentenced to death for rapes and other crimes, Sun Xiaoguo had his death penalty upheld by the Yunnan High People's Court on 23 December 2019.
- DECEMBER 27, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: ARSONIST EXECUTED OVER FATAL FIRE IN GUANGDONG
An arsonist who set a fire in a KTV bar in south China's Guangdong Province that killed 18 people was executed on 24 December 2019, according to a local court.
NOVEMBER 18, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TYCOON SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR FORMING A CRIMINAL SYNDICATE WITH TRIAD GANGSTERS
A former tycoon in China who built a £1 billion empire through sheer violence and terror on 6 November 2019 was sentenced to death with reprieve.
- NOVEMBER 7, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA SENTENCES 9 IN FENTANYL TRAFFICKING CASE AFTER US TIP
Xingtai Intermediate People’s court in Xingtai county, north China’s Hebei province, on 7 November 2019 sentenced nine fentanyl traffickers in a case that is the culmination of a rare collaboration between Chinese and U.S. law enforcement to crack down on
OCTOBER 18, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: SUPREME PEOPLE'S COURT REAFFIRMS STRICT CONTROL OF DEATH PENALTY
Supreme People's Court (SPC) on 17 October 2019 asked courts at various levels to strictly observe China's policy of strictly controlling and prudently applying the death penalty.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: A UIGHUR PROFESSOR VANISHED AND MAY BE EXECUTED
Uyghur intellectual Tashpolat Tiyip may be facing imminent execution by the Chinese government after two years of languishing in secret detention, Amnesty International warned on 9 September 2019.
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: SUPREME PEOPLE’S COURT ISSUES NEW GUIDELINES FOR DEATH PENALTY
The Supreme People’s Court issued guidelines on 9 August 2019 to regulate death sentence review and execution procedures to better protect the rights and interests of people on death row.
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: 19 SENTENCED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING THROUGH HUMAN BODIES
A court in east China's Jiangsu Province has sentenced 19 gang members to prison for cross-border drug trafficking, Xinhua reported on 4 September 2019.
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: DIDI DRIVER EXECUTED FOR RAPING, MURDERING PASSENGER
Zhong Yuan, a Didi driver convicted of robbing, raping and murdering a passenger, was executed in east China's Zhejiang Province on 30 August 2019 afternoon, according to the Supreme People's Court (SPC).
- JULY 31, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN EXECUTED FOR RAPE AND KILLING SPREE
A serial killer who murdered six people and raped 10 women and two girls, including a 12-year-old, was executed on 30 July 2019, according to the country's top court.
JULY 25, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: SUSPENDED DEATH PENALTY FOR LESBIAN WHO MURDERED LOVER OVER GAMBLING DEBTS
A woman has been given a suspended death sentence for murdering her lesbian ex-lover by stabbing her nearly 200 times following an argument in a Hunan hotel, DailyMail Online reported on 24 July 2019.
JULY 18, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR INTENTIONAL HOMICIDE
On the morning of 8 July 2019 the Intermediate Peoples Court of Luan City, Anhui Province, publicly sentenced Wang Yunli to death for intentional homicide, depriving him of political rights for life; confiscating a single-edged tool; compensating the plai
JULY 17, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: MAN WHO KILLED 3 IN REVENGE ATTACK EXECUTED
Zhang Koukou, who killed three neighbors in revenge for his mother's death, was executed on 17 July 2019 after his death penalty was approved by China's top court.
- JULY 12, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
TAIWAN: SUPREME COURT CONFIRMS DEATH SENTENCE FOR ARSONIST WHO KILLED 6
The Supreme Court on 10 July 2019 confirmed the death penalty against a man who committed arson on Lunar New Year’s Eve, killing six people including both his parents, and injuring four.
- JULY 11, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING 6 AFTER DRIVING INTO CROWD
A court in northeast China's Liaoning Province on 9 July 2019 sentenced a man to death for killing six children and injuring 20 people after driving into a group of children crossing a road.
- JULY 4, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: FATHER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING HIS BABY'S DOCTOR IN HOSPITAL IN A REVENGE ATTACK AFTER THE GIRL DIED OF AN ILLNESS
A Chinese was sentenced to death on 4 July 2019 for killing a doctor in the hospital in a revenge attack after his three-day-old daughter died of an illness.
- JUNE 19, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: 5 SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRANSPORTING, MANUFACTURING DRUGS
A court in central China's Hunan Province on June 18 2019 sentenced five people to death for transporting and manufacturing drugs.
JUNE 17, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: BEIJING KNIFE-ATTACKER SENTENCED TO DEATH
A man who killed one person and wounded 14 more with a knife at a Beijing mall in 2018 has been sentenced to death for “intentional murder,” a local intermediate court ruled on 13 June 2019.
JUNE 6, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: DEATH FOR BUSINESSMAN WHO RAPED 25 YOUNG GIRLS
A businessman was executed in the central Chinese province of Henan on 4 June 2019 for the rape of 25 minors – including 14 under the age of 14 – over a two-year period.
JUNE 3, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTYCHINA: TWO CHILD TRAFFICKERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Two child traffickers have been sentenced to death and 10 others given prison terms and fined in North China's Shanxi Province, the Xinhua News Agency reported on 1st June 2019.
- MAY 29, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: TWO DRUG TRAFFICKER SENTENCED TO DEATH SIX YEARS AFTER THE TRIAL
The Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, on 30 April 2019 handed down death sentences for drug offences to two accused and suspended death sentences for five others.
- MAY 7, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: SIX EXECUTED FOR KILLING WORKERS IN MINING COMPENSATION SCAM
Six men were executed on 12 April 2019 in northern China for killing mine workers and then claiming millions of yuan in compensation from the pit owners.
- APRIL 30, 2019ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINA: CANADIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR DRUG OFFENCES
A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian national to death on 30 April 2019 for producing and trafficking methamphetamine.