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
- JUNE 26, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Urumqi court condemned to death Gan Zexue and Xu...
The Urumqi court condemned to death Gan Zexue and Xu Shuangquan, together with their accomplices for carrying out a violent robbery armed with knives with the intention of taking other people's property illegally
- JUNE 26, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court pronounced...
Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court pronounced judgment on numerous cases and sentenced to death several drug traffickers
- JUNE 26, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A public-sentencing rally was held in Hangzhou to pronounce...
A public-sentencing rally was held in Hangzhou to pronounce judgment on 11 alleged drug criminals involved in eight cases - including one death sentence, which was carried out afterwards on Wang Chao
- JUNE 26, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Tibet Regional Higher People's Court held a news...
The Tibet Regional Higher People's Court held a news conference on public sentencing rallies held in Lhasa City and the prefectures of Xigaze [Shigatse], Shannan, Qamdo, and Nagqu earlier that day
- JUNE 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Ningbo judicial organs (Zhejiang Province) held a rally...
Ningbo judicial organs (Zhejiang Province) held a rally to try 27 drug suspects
- JUNE 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The city of Wuhan convicted a group of drug offenders,...
The city of Wuhan convicted a group of drug offenders, sentencing 13 of them to death
- JUNE 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
During a large-scale meeting held as part of the strike-hard...
During a large-scale meeting held as part of the strike-hard campaign, five Taiwanese citizens who had gone to mainland China to manufacture, smuggle and deal drugs, were sentenced to death and executed by firing squad at an execution field in Xiamen
- JUNE 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China executed Li Shaoju, a citizen of Myanmar, for...
China executed Li Shaoju, a citizen of Myanmar, for smuggling more than 136 kilograms of heroin, opium, and morphine from Myanmar to China
- JUNE 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
At the end of an open trial, the Qujing Intermediate...
At the end of an open trial, the Qujing Intermediate Court held that Luo Wenyun, Li Caijin, Tao Fusheng, Li Lianglou, Wang Deshou and 11 other criminals jointly and separately committed crimes in 12 cases of raping and robbing in places under the jurisdic
- JUNE 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme People's Court in Beijing upheld the death...
The Supreme People's Court in Beijing upheld the death sentence given to Li Shaoju, a Myanmar [Burma] citizen for drug trafficking
- JUNE 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Xian City Intermediate Court pronounced judgment on...
Xian City Intermediate Court pronounced judgment on six drug dealers involved in trafficking 320
- JUNE 24, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Media reported that 18 people in Chongqing had been...
Media reported that 18 people in Chongqing had been executed for drug trafficking
- JUNE 23, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Guangzhou Railway Communications Court, Guangdong Province,...
Guangzhou Railway Communications Court, Guangdong Province, openly ordered the execution of Li Yougao and six others for drugs crimes
- JUNE 23, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Legal Daily reported that 10 people were executed...
The Legal Daily reported that 10 people were executed after being sentenced at a mass rally in the southwestern city of Chengdu on drug-related crimes
- JUNE 23, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Sichuan Meishan city completed the 4-day trial of a...
Sichuan Meishan city completed the 4-day trial of a robbery case of an "exceptionally large" criminal gang of 21 members and passed death sentences on 11 suspects, including Min Yongjun and Zeng Wenqing
- JUNE 22, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In Shantou, a port city in Guangdong province, seven...
In Shantou, a port city in Guangdong province, seven people were executed for a variety of crimes including murder and robbery
- JUNE 22, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Baoji Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Shaanxi...
Baoji Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Shaanxi Province, sentenced to death Xu Baosheng and Xia Jialing, managers of Baoji Finance Security Company for embezzlement of public funds and accepting bribes
- JUNE 22, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Wuzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Hong Kong...
Wuzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Hong Kong businessman Pan Wensheng to death with two years stay of execution, and Wuzhou resident Luo Yujun to life imprisonment, both on charges of drug trafficking
- JUNE 21, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Tianjin Municipal Number Two Intermediate People's...
Tianjin Municipal Number Two Intermediate People's Court sentenced to death Deng Chenhui for illegally obtaining insurance funds
- JUNE 21, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The judicial and public security departments of Jieyang...
The judicial and public security departments of Jieyang city and Jiexi county jointly held a public rally to announce the verdicts for several alleged criminals
- JUNE 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Police condemned to death nine drug dealers caught...
Police condemned to death nine drug dealers caught with as little as two ounces of heroin in front of 10,000 spectators at a sports stadium in south China's Nanning City
- JUNE 19, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Anti-drug authorities in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous...
Anti-drug authorities in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region held a grand gathering in front of an audience of 10,000 who witnessed the burning of 31 kg of drugs of various kinds
- JUNE 19, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Hubei Daily reported that twenty convicts, including...
The Hubei Daily reported that twenty convicts, including murderers, were executed in Wuhan after a public sentencing rally attended by thousands of spectators
- JUNE 14, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Intermediate People's Courts of Sichuan's Meishan...
The Intermediate People's Courts of Sichuan's Meishan and Nanchong cities, sentenced to death Fang Ji and Lo Xiaolin, the ringleaders of two criminal organizations headed by which operated like criminal syndicates
- JUNE 13, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A delegation of the European Parliament PES Group visited...
A delegation of the European Parliament PES Group visited China at the end of May, on the invitation of the Communist Party and the Chinese Government
- JUNE 13, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The leader of a grave-robbing gang that blasted its...
The leader of a grave-robbing gang that blasted its way into a 2,000-year-old tomb was sentenced to death by a Henan court
- JUNE 13, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Eight members of the largest-ever organised crime ring...
Eight members of the largest-ever organised crime ring in Gansu province were put to death
- JUNE 13, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Gansu Provincial Higher People's Court maintained the...
Gansu Provincial Higher People's Court maintained the original jurisdiction and ordered the execution of "principal gangsters", Li Jie, Li Hui and six other gangsters including Cui Zhibiao and Ding Li
- JUNE 12, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A Chinese industrial trainee was sentenced to death...
A Chinese industrial trainee was sentenced to death by an appellate court in Seoul for two counts of murder and eight counts of robbery
- JUNE 12, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Fuzhou (Fujian Province) Municipal Intermediate People's...
Fuzhou (Fujian Province) Municipal Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zheng Ping, the female director of the Fuqing Customs Office, to death for accepting bribes of 898,000 yuan, 4,000 Hong Kong dollars and 89,000 yuan worth of valuables