China represents an interesting case study for a comparative historical analysis of punishment. As one of the earliest civilization in the world, China has passed through several distinctive periods including its successive historical classification as a primitive commune, a slave and feudal system, a semicolonial and semifeudal system, and a socialist country. The Chinese legal tradition is a mix of primarily traditional Confucian and Legalist ideas, and the contemporary Marxism–Leninism and Maoism of the socialist legal ideologies.

Throughout its long feudal history and the current socialist period, China has employed various types of punishment to maintain order, eliminate both internal and external threats to this order, and to facilitate social change. China stands out as an interesting context for social science research because this transitional society represents a fundamental paradox: Major social and legal reforms driven by the capitalist market economy are taking place within a traditionally Asian, moralistic, and communitarian society. In other words, how has China been able to maintain its long and steady history of social control in the face of a dramatically changing socioeconomic environment?

Our examination of economic, incapacitative, and corporal punishment in China begins with a general overview of its demographic and structural characteristics. This general profile is followed by a more detailed historical account of major societal changes and events that influenced the nature, prevalence, and justifications for different types of sanctions.