Capital punishment in China

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the People's Republic of China. It is mostly enforced for murder and drug trafficking, and executions are carried out by lethal injection or shooting.

The People's Republic of China executes the highest number of people annually, though other countries (such as Iran) have higher per capita execution rates. Watchdog groups believe that actual execution numbers greatly exceed officially recorded executions; in 2008, 2009, and 2010, the Dui Hua Foundation estimated that 5,000 people were executed each year in China – far more than all other nations combined. The estimated number of executions fell to 2,400 in 2013. The number of death sentences is a state secret.

Capital punishment was one of the classical Five Punishments of China's dynastic period. In Chinese philosophy, capital punishment was supported by the Legalists, but its application was tempered by the Confucianists, who preferred rehabilitation and mercy over capital punishment.Confucius did not oppose capital punishment absolutely, but did take the view that in a well-ordered society based on moral persuasion, capital punishment would become unnecessary.

During China's early dynasties, capital punishment and amputation were predominant among the five punishments. Later, amputation become less common, but capital punishment and corporal punishment remained. There was wide variability in the number of types of capital offenses over time. Under the Punishments of Lu (Lu Xing), written sometime in the Warring States period (475-221 BCE), there were 200 capital offenses The Tang Code (653 CE) listed 233 capital offenses, and the Song dynasty (960-1279) retained these and added sixty more over time. Under the Yuan dynasty, the "number of separate capital provisions" precipitously dropped, reaching a low of 125 crimes. The number of capital offenses spiked again under the Ming dynasty (1268-1644), with 282 capital offenses, and the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), with more than 800 capital offenses.

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