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 18, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The European Parliament passed a resolution deploring...
The European Parliament passed a resolution deploring an increase in the number of executions and criticised the silencing of political dissidents and clampdowns on ethnic and religious minorities
- JANUARY 14, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Zhuo Xiaojun, a Hong Kong national, was sentenced to...
Zhuo Xiaojun, a Hong Kong national, was sentenced to death for murder by the Fuzhou City's Intermediate People's Court
- JANUARY 14, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Two mainland farmers both from the Sichuan Province...
Two mainland farmers both from the Sichuan Province were executed for running a prostitution racket out of a hotel hair salon
- JANUARY 14, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Song Yongyi an American university academic was arrested...
Song Yongyi an American university academic was arrested after he uncovered evidence of atrocities during the Cultural Revolution
- JANUARY 12, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China, despite being a signatory of the international...
China, despite being a signatory of the international convention on the treatment of refugees, decided to repatriate seven North Koreans who entered Russia in November and were expelled to China (see below)
- JANUARY 12, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China repatriated Ho Young Il, 30, and six other North...
China repatriated Ho Young Il, 30, and six other North Koreans, who entered Russia in November 1999 and were expelled to China in late December of the same year
- JANUARY 9, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Sunday Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper revealed...
The Sunday Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper revealed that executed prisoners' organs were offered to Hong Kong patients at Guangdong's main transplant hospital for up to $300,000 each
- JANUARY 6, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Four women with little education were convicted of...
Four women with little education were convicted of forming a "pyramid association" to collect money by fraud and illegally absorbing deposits from the public amounting to nearly 200m yuan
- JANUARY 6, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
The Shanghai Municipal Intermediate Court sentenced...
The Shanghai Municipal Intermediate Court sentenced Huang Guanguo, former manager of the Minhang District Commercial Buildings Development and Trading Company, and Li Min Tai concurrently vice-chairman of the board and general manager of the Shanghai Hous
- JANUARY 4, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Xu Jianshe, a vice-director of the land administration...
Xu Jianshe, a vice-director of the land administration bureau in Shangqiu, in the Henan province, his cousin Zhang Jixian and hired killer Xu Huaang were sentenced to death by a municipal court for the death of the official's boss Li Wenzhong
- JANUARY 3, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Six men were executed at public rallies after being...
Six men were executed at public rallies after being found guilty of selling 52 women as peasant brides
- JANUARY 1, 2000ChinaDEATH 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, 2000ChinaDEATH 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, 2000ChinaDEATH 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, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China still holds the record for executions
China still holds the record for executions
- JANUARY 1, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in...
A revised Criminal Procedure Law came into force in January 1997
- JANUARY 1, 2000ChinaDEATH 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, 2000ChinaDEATH PENALTY
Also executed were political prisoners in the restive...
Also executed were political prisoners in the restive northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang, whom Peking regards as terrorists
- DECEMBER 28, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On December 28, the Tianjin Municipal No
On December 28, the Tianjin Municipal No
- DECEMBER 27, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On December 27, 5 men were executed in the northeastern...
On December 27, 5 men were executed in the northeastern city of Shenyang, in Liaoning Province, after the provincial high court upheld their death sentences for armed robberies that resulted in the deaths of 16 people
- DECEMBER 24, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On December 24, one Indonesian and 12 mainland Chinese...
On December 24, one Indonesian and 12 mainland Chinese pirates were sentenced to death for their role in the hijacking of the Cheung Son and the subsequent murder of the 23-strong crew last year
- DECEMBER 24, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On December 24, Haikou City Intermediate People's Court...
On December 24, Haikou City Intermediate People's Court sentenced Chen Zewu, Ke Xingzhi, Lin Zai to death; Lin Ning, Feng Yaji to death with two years reprieve; Lin Jianlong and another 10 criminals were sentenced to terms of imprisonment
- DECEMBER 21, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On December 21, the second summit between China and...
On December 21, the second summit between China and the European Union was held in Beijing
- DECEMBER 12, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On December 12, Chongqing Higher People's Court sentencedLin...
On December 12, Chongqing Higher People's Court sentencedLin Shiyuan, a former vice secretary of the Qijiang County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, to death with a 2-year reprieve for disclosing information regarding the crimes of other suspects
- DECEMBER 4, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On December 4, the Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court...
On December 4, the Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court in eastern Jiangsu province rejected the appeal of Hao Jingwen, upholding a death sentence imposed in 1998
- DECEMBER 3, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On December 3, Lin Guoti, former director of the Machinery...
On December 3, Lin Guoti, former director of the Machinery Industry Bureau of Hunan Province, was sentenced to death following his conviction on charges of bribery
- DECEMBER 2, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On December 2, a Chinese court sentenced 2 Taiwan citizens...
On December 2, a Chinese court sentenced 2 Taiwan citizens to death and jailed 2 more for trying to smuggle out 44
- DECEMBER 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In December, 6 Chinese gang members were to be executed...
In December, 6 Chinese gang members were to be executed for killing 77 people in a murder, rape and robbery spree
- DECEMBER 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In December, 2 Muslims, Jurat Nuri, 26, and Abduhalik...
In December, 2 Muslims, Jurat Nuri, 26, and Abduhalik Abdureshit, 23, were to be executed in Xinjiang and 9 others were jailed for separatist activities
- NOVEMBER 29, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On November 29, the Ningbo Municipal Intermediate People's...
On November 29, the Ningbo Municipal Intermediate People's Court was called to order to try the case of Zhu Huaguang (2612 5478 0342), the "No