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
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ten robbers and rapists were put to death in Beijing
Ten robbers and rapists were put to death in Beijing
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ten people were put to death in Beijing for ordinary crimes
Ten people were put to death in Beijing for ordinary crimes
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
State press reported that two pimps were executed in...
State press reported that two pimps were executed in Guangdong after being convicted of kidnapping or buying women and forcing them into prostitution
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Alleged kidnappers Wang Yingcai, Ma Zhiguo and Zhang...
Alleged kidnappers Wang Yingcai, Ma Zhiguo and Zhang Fei were executed in Yuelin, Shaanxi Province, China
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Provincial Higher People's Court in Hebei sentenced...
The Provincial Higher People's Court in Hebei sentenced 10 human traffickers from Yunnan Province to death, the Xinhua Daily Telegraph reported
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Higher People's Court of Hebei province rejected...
The Higher People's Court of Hebei province rejected appeals lodged by 10 child abductors and upheld their death sentences, according to Xinhua's Web site
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
September 6-10, 2002: eight people sentenced to death...
September 6-10, 2002: eight people sentenced to death were executed in Gansu (northwest) and Guizhou (southeast) provinces in China
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Yangcheng Evening News reported that Shaoguan Intermediate...
The Yangcheng Evening News reported that Shaoguan Intermediate People's Court, in Guangdong Province, sentenced Xiao Zhuoming to death
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Yangcheng Evening News reported that Shaoguan Intermediate...
The Yangcheng Evening News reported that Shaoguan Intermediate People's Court, in Guangdong Province, tried two false value-added tax invoice issuance cases, sentencing Pan Guangshi, his son Pan Yingping and his daughter-in-law, Luo Mei, to death
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China's harsh crackdown on crime executed unknown thousands...
China's harsh crackdown on crime executed unknown thousands of prisoners in 2002 in judicial processes in which torture was common and lawyers rare
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Beijing court ordered the execution of Lu Wanhua,...
A Beijing court ordered the execution of Lu Wanhua, chairman of Beijing Haiziwan Precision Chemical Limited Company, Beijing Taikang Bio-Medicine Limited Company and Singapore Guoyuxuan Stock Holding Private Limited Company, for using fake financial certi
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Dong Wei, 26, who escaped execution by four minutes...
Dong Wei, 26, who escaped execution by four minutes on April 28 after an appeal judge managed to reach the executioner by mobile phone four minutes prior to his execution, was finally executed
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Ministry of Public Security newspaper reported that...
A Ministry of Public Security newspaper reported that the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court, in Zhejiang Province, sentenced Ren Yueming, manager of Yinxian County Sanyou Materials Trading Company, to death with two years reprieve and confiscation of all
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Legal Daily reported that the Zhengzhou Intermediate...
The Legal Daily reported that the Zhengzhou Intermediate People's Court, in Henan Province, sentenced Chen Bingkun to death for financial fraud
- SEPTEMBER 3, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three young men, all convicted of killing girlfriends,...
Three young men, all convicted of killing girlfriends, were executed in Beijing
- AUGUST 30, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two men including Li Zhen, the former head of north...
Two men including Li Zhen, the former head of north China's Hebei provincial tax department was sentenced to death for corruption
- AUGUST 28, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The People's Daily reported that a former employee...
The People's Daily reported that a former employee in Air China's finance department was sentenced to death for embezzling 24
- AUGUST 26, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Yang Ning was executed for embezzlement
Yang Ning was executed for embezzlement
- AUGUST 21, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Legal Daily reported that a court in Hunan Province...
The Legal Daily reported that a court in Hunan Province ordered the execution of Zou Dongfan and Yang Jiaowen for issuance of false tax invoices
- AUGUST 21, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Intermediate People's Court in Shaoyang, Hunan...
The Intermediate People's Court in Shaoyang, Hunan Province, sentenced Zhou Shaoqiu and Tan Longzhou to death for issuance of false value added specialized tax invoices
- AUGUST 21, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, in Guangdong...
The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, in Guangdong Province, sentenced alleged drug traffickers Zou Shaohua a Malaysian, and Liu Songwen, to death with two years reprieve, the Yangcheng Evening News reported
- AUGUST 19, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson...
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said China needed to rely on political reform rather than repression to deal with growing social unrest
- AUGUST 18, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Legal Daily reported that a court in Liuzhou, southwest...
The Legal Daily reported that a court in Liuzhou, southwest Guangxi Province, executed Ma Lin and Jiang Baolin, respectively chairman and president of Sanmeng Industry and Trade Ltd Co
- AUGUST 17, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Nine people convicted of violent robberies, in four...
Nine people convicted of violent robberies, in four of which their victims died, were executed in Beijing, media said
- AUGUST 16, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Shanghai held a sentencing rally for major violent...
Shanghai held a sentencing rally for major violent crimes, including robbing, snatching away people's property and seriously threatening people's safety
- AUGUST 16, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Three Hong Kong men found guilty of drug trafficking...
Three Hong Kong men found guilty of drug trafficking and possession were executed in Shenzhen after their appeals were rejected by the Guangdong Province People's High Court
- AUGUST 15, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, in Guangdong...
The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, in Guangdong Province, tried 24 people for participating in criminal syndicates, intentional assault, blackmail, kidnapping and extortion
- AUGUST 15, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zhou Guanglong was convicted by the Guangzhou Intermediate...
Zhou Guanglong was convicted by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court of organizing gangsters, injuring and blackmailing people, illegally carrying weapons and other serious crimes and sentenced to death
- AUGUST 14, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Yunnan Daily reported that the Intermediate People's...
The Yunnan Daily reported that the Intermediate People's Court in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest Yunnan Province, sentenced Yang Hongying, female, to death with two years reprieve, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of a
- AUGUST 13, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zhou Qidong, former member of Anhui Province's Wuhu...
Zhou Qidong, former member of Anhui Province's Wuhu City Party Committee Standing Committee and secretary of the city political science and law commission, who hired killers to kill a woman, was executed together with Zhao Zhenghe, Wang Changchun, and Yua