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
- JULY 15, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On July 15, 20 people convicted of robbery and murder...
On July 15, 20 people convicted of robbery and murder were executed in Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Evening News reported
- JULY 14, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On July 14, the Higher People's Court of South China's...
On July 14, the Higher People's Court of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region announced the result of its second-instance trial of Li Chenglong, former deputy mayor of Guigang City, and upheld a lower court ruling of the death penalty
- JULY 3, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On July 3, 37-year-old Zhao Lianrong, who murdered...
On July 3, 37-year-old Zhao Lianrong, who murdered 8 girls in Beijing, was sentenced to deathby the Beijing No
- JULY 3, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On July 3, 4 people were given death sentences for...
On July 3, 4 people were given death sentences for being members of a smuggling ring that sold thousands of skins and parts of endangered tigers, leopards, snakes and other animals through the post
- JUNE 30, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 30, Zhou Xia, 36, a female drug dealer was...
On June 30, Zhou Xia, 36, a female drug dealer was executed in the city of Anshan, one of China's steel production bases in the northeastern province of Liaoning
- JUNE 28, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 28, Jiang Zhongsheng, the former chairman and...
On June 28, Jiang Zhongsheng, the former chairman and party secretary of the Dongfang Boiler (Group) Company Ltd
- JUNE 28, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 28, China executed the "ringleader" of a Pakistani...
On June 28, China executed the "ringleader" of a Pakistani fundamentalist group in the north-west Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
- JUNE 25, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 25, authorities in Changsha and other areas...
On June 25, authorities in Changsha and other areas executed 8 drug traffickers
- JUNE 24, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 24, Urumqi City Intermediate People's Court...
On June 24, Urumqi City Intermediate People's Court sentenced 6 drug traffickers to death for selling heroin ranging from 190 to 717g
- JUNE 24, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 24, 3 drug traffickers were executed in Mianyang...
On June 24, 3 drug traffickers were executed in Mianyang City in Sichuan Province
- JUNE 21, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 21, a Chinese court sentenced Liu Jia-guo,...
On June 21, a Chinese court sentenced Liu Jia-guo, 34,the leader of Christian sect to death for swindling fellow sect members
- JUNE 17, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 17, Shanghai Railway Transport Intermediate...
On June 17, Shanghai Railway Transport Intermediate Court sentenced 4 drug traffickers to death, life imprisonment, and fixed-term imprisonment
- JUNE 7, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 7, 6 people, including 2 former Customs chiefs,...
On June 7, 6 people, including 2 former Customs chiefs, were executed in Guangdong after losing their appeals in the mainland's biggest smuggling case
- JUNE 4, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On June 4, Huzhou City Intermediate People's Court,...
On June 4, Huzhou City Intermediate People's Court, Zhejiang, meted out a death sentence with a 2-year reprieve to Xie Jianbang, former vice-mayor of Ningbo City, on charges of corruption
- JUNE 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In June, Lan Yike, a cadre of the Sichuan Provincial...
In June, Lan Yike, a cadre of the Sichuan Provincial Foreign Exchange Administrative Bureau, embezzled, or obtained by swindling, more than 10m yuan ($1
- JUNE 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In June, a number of drug traffickers were punished...
In June, a number of drug traffickers were punished or executed in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shantou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Wenzhou on the eve of International Anti-drug Day
- MAY 18, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On May 18, Jiangxi Ye Xiaojun, who killed a policeman...
On May 18, Jiangxi Ye Xiaojun, who killed a policeman during a robbery on March 31, was executed in Jingdezhen City
- MAY 14, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On May 14, the Higher People's Court of northeast China's...
On May 14, the Higher People's Court of northeast China's Liaoning Province sentenced 4 persons to death for murdering Li Xianying, the secretary of the Party Committee of Liaoning's Fushun County
- MAY 12, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On May 12, at least 9 high officials, including the...
On May 12, at least 9 high officials, including the director of Customs at the city of Zhanjiang, were executed in one of the biggest corruption cases
- MAY 3, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On May 3, a Chinese court sentenced 2 people to death...
On May 3, a Chinese court sentenced 2 people to death in the southeastern province of Jiangsu for smuggling metal and evading duties totaling 130 million yuan ($16 million)
- MAY 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In May, it was also reported that China had extended...
In May, it was also reported that China had extended its nationwide campaign against tax evasion to e-commerce
- MAY 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In May, it was reported that City People's Court in...
In May, it was reported that City People's Court in Xinjiang sentenced Wang Chengbo to death, Liu Weishan to death with a 2-year reprieve, and Li Long to life imprisonment on charges of murder and kidnapping on July 17, 1998
- APRIL 30, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On April 30, the Jiangsu province higher court sentenced...
On April 30, the Jiangsu province higher court sentenced Wu Zhongming to death and Zheng Shuiyao to a 2-year suspended death sentence for smuggling a total of 26,000 tons of copper and aluminium into the southern port of Shekou
- APRIL 28, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
China voted against the resolution on the death penalty...
China voted against the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 28, 1999 (1999/61)
- APRIL 23, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On April 23, Wu Biao a former official of the Ningbo...
On April 23, Wu Biao a former official of the Ningbo branch of the People's Bank of China, was found to have used his banking and local government contacts to obtain loans and deposits totaling about 2 billion yuan ($240 million) that were then channeled
- APRIL 20, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On April 20, Li Yufui (47) a mainland Chinese citizen...
On April 20, Li Yufui (47) a mainland Chinese citizen and purported master of feng shui - the Chinese art of positioning buildings and furniture to harmonize man with nature - was executed by firing squad after a court rejected his appeal
- APRIL 6, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On April 6, Chen Mengxing, a farmer from China's northern...
On April 6, Chen Mengxing, a farmer from China's northern Hebei province was sentenced to death for stealing and accidentally shattering Beijing's oldest Buddha statue
- APRIL 3, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On April 3, the No
On April 3, the No
- APRIL 2, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
On April 2, a Beijing court sentenced to death Ma Ke,...
On April 2, a Beijing court sentenced to death Ma Ke, 18, and Jiang Tao, 46, for stabbing Zou Jingmeng to death in the city's western Haidian district on February 22
- APRIL 1, 1999ChinaDEATH PENALTY
In April, a court sentenced restaurant owner Chi Jianguo...
In April, a court sentenced restaurant owner Chi Jianguo to death for poisoning the donkey soup at a nearby rival's eatery and making 148 people ill