State media reported that 18 convicted criminals were...

State media reported that 18 convicted criminals were put to death, 11 of them by lethal injection, in an annual tradition of carrying out executions before the Lunar New Year.
The lethal injections were performed on January 17 in Lanzhou, Xinhua news agency reported.
The convicts were put to death for crimes including murder and drug trafficking.
According to Xinhua it was the largest number of executions by lethal injection carried out on a single occasion since Lanzhou introduced the new method of execution.
All 11 executions proceeded without incident and were completed within the space of an hour. Seven other criminals were put to death in southwestern Guizhou province on the same day, using the more traditional method of a bullet to the back of the head, the China News Service said. China traditionally executes a large number of criminals around public holidays such as the Lunar New Year, which this year falls on February 1, the aim being to give the public a sense of security during the holidays and deliver a stern warning to potential offenders.