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
- OCTOBER 12, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Chinese cooperation in the global war on terrorism...
Chinese cooperation in the global war on terrorism depends on Western support and understanding for Beijing's widely criticized attempts to resolve its own Islamic terrorist problem
- OCTOBER 11, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Eleven people were executed in Kunming, capital of...
Eleven people were executed in Kunming, capital of the Yunnan province, the Yunnan Daily reported
- OCTOBER 11, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A man who killed his former girlfriend's parents 15...
A man who killed his former girlfriend's parents 15 years ago was captured and sentenced to death by the Beijing Second Intermediate Court
- OCTOBER 10, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China sentenced to death a former vice mayor of the...
China sentenced to death a former vice mayor of the northeastern city of Shenyang for his involvement in a web of corruption around City Hall, state television reported
- OCTOBER 6, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China joined the U
China joined the U
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six convicted criminals were executed in south China,...
Six convicted criminals were executed in south China, after mass sentencing rallies organised in two different locations in the city of Zhuhai, just north of Macau
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Yao Xiaohong, the Chinese reporter who exposed the...
Yao Xiaohong, the Chinese reporter who exposed the unauthorised removal of organs from executed prisoners by Chinese authorities, was sacked again for damaging interests of senior officials, the Hong Kong Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Communist Party's top disciplinary unit ousted...
The Communist Party's top disciplinary unit ousted two former senior provincial officials - former Yunnan governor Li Jiating and Fujian province's former deputy party secretary, Shi Zhaobin - for alleged corruption, paving the way for their trials
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Islamic militants faced the execution squad, stupefied...
Islamic militants faced the execution squad, stupefied by drink and driven to their deaths on an open lorry past laughing crowds
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A court in east China's Zhejiang Province sentenced...
A court in east China's Zhejiang Province sentenced five men to death for minting and selling one million fake one-yuan coins
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In a report published this month, Amnesty International...
In a report published this month, Amnesty International criticized the so-called strike hard campaign against separatists
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two men were found guilty of murder and executed at...
Two men were found guilty of murder and executed at a city sports stadium, in front of 3,000 people in Huanggang, a rundown city in the central province of Hubei
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Death sentences, tough prison terms and other forms...
Death sentences, tough prison terms and other forms of state punishment are likely to rise as Shanghai prepares for the October 1 National Day holiday, according to a senior city court official
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China's top law enforcement official has called for...
China's top law enforcement official has called for a six-month strike hard campaign on official and corporate corruption and vowed substantial results within two years, state press said
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Shanghai newspapers reported the executions of five...
Shanghai newspapers reported the executions of five defendants on charges ranging from murder to robbery
- SEPTEMBER 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six people, including four women, died in police custody...
Six people, including four women, died in police custody or in detention centres in China after being detained for allegiance to the banned Falun Gong spiritual sect
- SEPTEMBER 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China has executed two Taiwanese nationals who were...
China has executed two Taiwanese nationals who were condemned to death for murdering a third Taiwanese in order to claim his life insurance, according to a report seen here Thursday
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Police in Liaoning province shot dead a fellow officer...
Police in Liaoning province shot dead a fellow officer after he allegedly gunned down five people, including his mother-in-law, at a bathhouse, state media reported
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China's chief of police said Beijing would share information...
China's chief of police said Beijing would share information with the United States in the most concrete offer to date of what it would do to help a U
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A man was sentenced to death in Henan province for...
A man was sentenced to death in Henan province for murdering his wife, adopted son and another person with poisoned soft drinks
- SEPTEMBER 18, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Following an execution order issued by the Higher People's...
Following an execution order issued by the Higher People's Court of Beijing City, the First Intermediate People's Court of Beijing City executed four men for robbery and forcing women into prostitution
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Kawasaki branch of Yokohama District Court in Japan...
The Kawasaki branch of Yokohama District Court in Japan sentenced a Chinese man to death for a murder-robbery in 1999 in which three Chinese were stabbed to death and another three injured
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A man in the Chinese city of Shanghai was sentenced...
A man in the Chinese city of Shanghai was sentenced to death for killing one of his bosses when he could not get a day off to watch a Manchester United match
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six people who robbed a bank in central China's Henan...
Six people who robbed a bank in central China's Henan Province were sentenced to death and deprived of all property
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zhong Hongzhi was sentenced to death with two years'...
Zhong Hongzhi was sentenced to death with two years' probation, and an accomplice, Yang Meishou, to three years imprisonment with three years' probation, for forging value-added invoices totalling millions of yuan
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Courts across China were urged by the country's supreme...
Courts across China were urged by the country's supreme court to use lethal injections for executions in capital punishment cases
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China executed some 24 people after a public sentencing...
China executed some 24 people after a public sentencing rally
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Thirteen Hong Kong people arrested over what is believed...
Thirteen Hong Kong people arrested over what is believed to be a world record seizure of almost 17 tonnes of the drug "ice" are facing the death penalty in a trial that starts on September 11 in Shenzhen
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Eleven people convicted of murder, rape or robbery...
Eleven people convicted of murder, rape or robbery were executed by Chinese authorities on September 8 and 9 as part of the "Strike Hard" anti-crime campaign
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two Chinese Haw tribesmen, Ar-hong sae Soo, 27, and...
Two Chinese Haw tribesmen, Ar-hong sae Soo, 27, and Ar-sing sae Lee, 28, were sentenced to death by the Criminal Court in Thailand