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 12, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China, which executes more people each year than any...
China, which executes more people each year than any another country, was restrained in its reaction to America's execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh on June 11
- JUNE 11, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China's highest court and prosecutor's office have...
China's highest court and prosecutor's office have issued a legal interpretation permitting use of the death penalty and harsh anti-subversion laws to punish followers of the banned Falun Gong, in a decision that may signal a new round of trials of group
- JUNE 10, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In a nationwide order to local law-enforcement agencies...
In a nationwide order to local law-enforcement agencies the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate broadly reinterpret murder and subversion statutes for use in prosecution of Falun Gong adherents
- JUNE 10, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Foshan Intermediate People's Court, sentenced to...
The Foshan Intermediate People's Court, sentenced to death five out of the 15 members of a gang convicted of running drug laboratories and selling more than 100,000 tablets of Ecstasy in Guangdong
- JUNE 8, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Swedish Presidency of the EU, represented by Council...
The Swedish Presidency of the EU, represented by Council President Anna Lindh, outlined, during the meeting with the head of Chinese diplomacy Tang Jiaxuan in Beijing , the Union's grievances - torture, death penalty, police brutality, barriers to freedom
- JUNE 7, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Twenty criminals were shot in Xian, Shaanxi province,...
Twenty criminals were shot in Xian, Shaanxi province, as part of the Strike Hard campaign, which has seen more than 1,000 executed in two months
- JUNE 6, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Wuhan Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Hubei...
Wuhan Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Hubei Province, sentenced to death Hu Shan, director of the post office customs unit, and sentenced to death with a reprieve Xu Guoyan , chief of the financial section of Wuhan customs
- JUNE 6, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Bose Prefectural Intermediate People's Court held a...
Bose Prefectural Intermediate People's Court held a public rally to sentence to death the three "triad" leaders Ding Xu, Lu Zhongling and Huang Jie
- JUNE 5, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Twenty-one convicted criminals were executed in a single...
Twenty-one convicted criminals were executed in a single day in the in the central Chinese city of Chongqing
- JUNE 4, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Pingdingshan City Court pronounced publicly the...
The Pingdingshan City Court pronounced publicly the sentences on a 40-strong criminal syndicate
- JUNE 1, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The regional Higher People 's Court confirmed the death...
The regional Higher People 's Court confirmed the death sentence handed down to the former police chief of Liuzhou city in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
- MAY 31, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Shaoyang (Hunan Province) Municipal Intermediate People's...
Shaoyang (Hunan Province) Municipal Intermediate People's Court sentenced six triad gangsters including Deng Fei to death
- MAY 31, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six people convicted of abducting and selling four...
Six people convicted of abducting and selling four women and 99 children were executed in China's southwestern province of Yunnan
- MAY 30, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Urumqi Intermediate People's Court held a public...
The Urumqi Intermediate People's Court held a public rally to sentence to death or life imprisonment 24 criminals convicted either of splitting the country, murder, or robbery at trial of first instance
- MAY 29, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Shijiazhuang Municipal Court carried out the execution...
Shijiazhuang Municipal Court carried out the execution order on Xu Ailing, a female, for swindling money
- MAY 29, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Courts in Beijing, Zhuzhou, Qingdao and Shijiazhuang...
Courts in Beijing, Zhuzhou, Qingdao and Shijiazhuang executed Cao Yufei, Tang Tianhe, Li Tianping and Xu Ailing for financial fraud, with the approval of China People's Supreme Court,From June 1997 to July 1998, Cao Yufei, chairman of Beijing Xindongya In
- MAY 28, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
With the approval of the People's Supreme Court, Hubei...
With the approval of the People's Supreme Court, Hubei Provincial Higher People's Court carried out the execution order on Jin Jianpei, director of the Hubei Provincial Hong Kong and Macao Office, also president of the Hubei Yifeng Trading Company and cha
- MAY 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Jinan Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Shandong...
Jinan Municipal Intermediate People's Court, Shandong Province, sentenced Xue Yuquan, director of the Gold Industry Bureau, to death with two years reprieve for accepting bribes and falsely reporting registered capital
- MAY 25, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Beijing Municipality's Intermediate People's Court...
Beijing Municipality's Intermediate People's Court No 2 held a public meeting to announce punishments for 21 robbery criminals: Zhao Gang and four others were sentenced to death, and another 16 criminals were separately sentenced to death with a two-year
- MAY 23, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Twenty-six-year-old Duan Xiaoping, a peasant from Chongqing,...
Twenty-six-year-old Duan Xiaoping, a peasant from Chongqing, was sentenced to death for splashing sulphuric acid on her lover's ex-wife, Xu, on 1 June 2000
- MAY 22, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Nanning Municipal Intermediate People's Court in...
The Nanning Municipal Intermediate People's Court in Guangxi Province sentenced 10 alleged drug traffickers to death, including Zhong Qiuqi, a peasant from Jinshan
- MAY 22, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji promised that China's most-wanted...
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji promised that China's most-wanted fugitive Lai Changxing will not be executed if Canada returns him to face trial
- MAY 21, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai Municipal Intermediate Number One People's...
The Shanghai Municipal Intermediate Number One People's Court sentenced Wang Qibiao to death for tax evasion
- MAY 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Eight people were sentenced to death in Guizhou province...
Eight people were sentenced to death in Guizhou province for abducting and selling 42 children
- MAY 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Liaoning judicial organs openly tried 38 criminal...
The Liaoning judicial organs openly tried 38 criminal cases in nine cities and executed a number of suspects
- MAY 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China executed 29 members of violent gangs, targeting...
China executed 29 members of violent gangs, targeting robbery and murder rings in a "Strike Hard"
- MAY 20, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said...
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said that Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, during a visit in Thailand, backed the Thai proposal for an anti-narcotics summit of prime ministers of the two countries, Laos and Myanmar
- MAY 18, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Intermediate People's Court of southwest China's...
The Intermediate People's Court of southwest China's Guizhou Province, sentenced eight child-traffickers to death
- MAY 16, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The court in Zhoushan City in east China's Zhejiang...
The court in Zhoushan City in east China's Zhejiang Province found that a woman, Miao Saixian, 59, cheated 46 people out of a total of 6
- MAY 15, 2001ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Yiyang Municipal People's Court in Hunan Province...
The Yiyang Municipal People's Court in Hunan Province sentenced 12 alleged drug traffickers to death after the Yiyang municipal police smashed a Guangdong-Hunan drug-trafficking gang and arrested 42 suspects