True Crime Cases in China

China rarely opens its courts and case files to outsiders, so the documented record here is narrow, leaning toward events that drew national attention or were confirmed in court.

The clearest individual case is Yang Xinhai, who broke into rural homes in Henan Province at night and killed entire families with hammers, axes, and shovels. Alongside him I have mapped two mass attacks on public spaces: the 2014 knife assault at Kunming Railway Station and the 2024 car ramming at the Zhuhai Sports Centre.

I research each case here by hand, working from what can be verified. This small set reflects the limits of the public record more than the scale of crime in any one place.