The Supreme People's Court of China

CHINA: TWO MEN EXECUTED FOR COMMITTING DEADLY ‘REVENGE ON SOCIETY CRIMES’

January 20, 2025:

China has executed two men who committed deadly attacks that killed dozens in November, raising concerns about a surge in what are called “revenge on society crimes”, state media reported.
Fan Weiqu, 62, who rammed his car into a crowd outside a sports stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai, killing at least 35 people, was executed on January 20, 2025.
The attack was the country’s deadliest in more than a decade, according to authorities. Police said Fan was upset over his divorce settlement.
Also in November, 21-year-old Xu Jiajin killed eight people and injured 17 in a stabbing attack at his vocational school in the eastern city of Wuxi.
Police said Wu had failed his examinations and could not graduate, and was dissatisfied about his pay at an internship. He was also executed on January 20, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged local governments to take measures to prevent such attacks, known as “revenge on society crimes”.
The two men’s death sentences were issued by the intermediate people’s courts in the cities of Zhuhai and Wuxi, respectively, in December, and approved by the Supreme People’s Court, according to state media.
Violent crimes are rarer in China than in many Western countries, but the country has seen a rise in recent years. Stabbings and car attacks have challenged the governing Communist Party’s reputation for strict public security and crime prevention.
They also carried a shock factor that led some to question perceived social ills such as frustration with a slowing economy, high unemployment and diminishing social mobility.
China is believed to execute more prisoners each year than the rest of the world combined, though the precise total is classified as a state secret. Executions are traditionally carried out by gunshot, though lethal injections have also been introduced in recent years.