The number of Chinas annual death sentence is considered a state secret and has not yet been announced. It is widely estimated in the academic world that about 8,000 people are sentenced to death each year in China, almost 20 times the total number of people sentenced to death in other parts of the world. China is currently preparing to issue a new version of the Criminal Code with the intention of canceling 9 articles for death.
Even if this is an estimation, the number is still more than impressive. I wonder what does it speak for: excessive list of death penalty articles, or that death penalty doesn`t work as an effective preventive measure to prevent further crimes and people are still willing to risk their lives to pursue their illegal goals.