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
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In China, the Siberian tiger, the giant panda and the...
In China, the Siberian tiger, the giant panda and the golden monkey are protected species, hunting them is punishable by long prison terms and the death sentence
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A total of 23 Hong Kong residents were either executed...
A total of 23 Hong Kong residents were either executed or sentenced to death in mainland China in 2001
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Public support of the death penalty runs high in China
Public support of the death penalty runs high in China
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Death sentences are often pronounced in public and...
Death sentences are often pronounced in public and the condemned prisoner is presented to the crowd and forced to bow his head and wear a sign with the name of his crime written on it around his neck
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International believes that in actual fact...
Amnesty International believes that in actual fact the number of death sentences and executions is much higher than the figures in their possession; this is because the Chinese authorities never publish statistics on the death penalty as they are consider
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China still holds the record for executions
China still holds the record for executions
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in...
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On April 14, 2000, Prison governor Jiayong Renqing...
On April 14, 2000, Prison governor Jiayong Renqing of Lhasa jail in Tibet said that the number of prisoners in Tibet jails represents 0
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Domestic consumption of drugs is becoming `more serious...
Domestic consumption of drugs is becoming `more serious with each passing day', according to an official white paper, which acknowledges that `the situation is grim for the anti-drug struggle
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China also condemned to death and executed many people...
China also condemned to death and executed many people in accord with the national campaign against corruption, which was strengthened after March's annual session of the National People's Congress
- JANUARY 1, 2002ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court in 2001 reopened 3,047 cases after...
The Supreme Court in 2001 reopened 3,047 cases after receiving 152,557 complaints about verdicts, according to court president Xiao Yang, China's top judge
- DECEMBER 29, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Chinese authorities executed 41 people during an anti-corruption...
Chinese authorities executed 41 people during an anti-corruption campaign, newspapers reported
- DECEMBER 28, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In Shanghai, China, three heroin traffickers were executed...
In Shanghai, China, three heroin traffickers were executed this week after being sentenced, an official at the No 1 Intermediate People's Court said
- DECEMBER 27, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Beijing court sentenced a former financial official...
A Beijing court sentenced a former financial official of Air China to death for embezzling public money
- DECEMBER 27, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In China two men involved in a killing spree that left...
In China two men involved in a killing spree that left 14 people dead were sentenced to death, while an accomplice was jailed for life, AFP reported
- DECEMBER 27, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
At least 13 convicted criminals were executed and a...
At least 13 convicted criminals were executed and a spate of others sentenced to death as China began its end of the year judicial purge
- DECEMBER 26, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A south China court sentenced a Hong Kong drug lord...
A south China court sentenced a Hong Kong drug lord and his four associates to death following what is said to be the world's largest haul of "ice," local reports said
- DECEMBER 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China executed five members of a violent gang that...
China executed five members of a violent gang that murdered 21 people over the eight years in China's northernmost province of Heilongjiang
- DECEMBER 24, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A draft amendment to China's Criminal Law, which was...
A draft amendment to China's Criminal Law, which was tabled at a session of the country's legislature National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, stipulates that those who commit crimes like spreading poisonous, radioactive or contagious material
- DECEMBER 24, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The State Administration of Taxation stated in Beijing...
The State Administration of Taxation stated in Beijing that in April 2001, the Chinese tax administration launched a campaign aimed at fighting tax fraud
- DECEMBER 21, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A salesman who channelled millions of yuan into phony...
A salesman who channelled millions of yuan into phony bank accounts was recently sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court of Changchun City in northeast China's Jilin Province
- DECEMBER 21, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A bank director was sentenced to death by a court in...
A bank director was sentenced to death by a court in south China for embezzling 21
- DECEMBER 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Following a death warrant signed by the Beijing Municipal...
Following a death warrant signed by the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court president, the Beijing Municipal No 2 Intermediate People's Court escorted a number of condemned criminals to the execution ground for execution, including Cheng Zhanming, a k
- DECEMBER 19, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The former vice-mayor of Shenyang in China's northeastern...
The former vice-mayor of Shenyang in China's northeastern province of Liaoning and the city's former deputy finance chief were executed for corruption and embezzlement, official media reported
- DECEMBER 18, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A former official of a Communist Party school in Beijing...
A former official of a Communist Party school in Beijing was sentenced to death for having his nephew kill his boss, the People's Daily reported
- DECEMBER 18, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A man who set off three bombs that killed six people...
A man who set off three bombs that killed six people and injured three others to seek revenge against three of his doctors had been sentenced to death, the Beijing Morning Post said
- DECEMBER 16, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A rally gathered in the Hotan sports stadium in October...
A rally gathered in the Hotan sports stadium in October to watch court officials sentence a man to death, a scene that was played out hundreds of times across China in 2001 as part of the Communist Party's latest drive against crime
- DECEMBER 14, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Li Yufen, a former manager in Changchun, the capital...
Li Yufen, a former manager in Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province, northeast China, was executed for embezzling over 90 million yuan (11 million U
- DECEMBER 10, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
South African President Thabo Mbeki began his first...
South African President Thabo Mbeki began his first trip to China aimed at building ties and expanding business between two countries which normalized relations less than four years ago
- DECEMBER 9, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In August 2000, 300 members of a central government...
In August 2000, 300 members of a central government investigative team - known as Taskforce 807 - descended on Shantou in an effort to eradicate widespread VAT-rebate fraud