A routine breakfast became a mass-casualty emergency
On the morning of September 14, 2002, large numbers of people in Tangshan became seriously ill after eating food made from ingredients supplied by a local shop. Many of the customers were students and workers buying breakfast before school or work.
Emergency services sent victims to multiple hospitals as authorities tried to identify the source. Contemporary reports changed as the scale became clearer. Some early international coverage cited 38 deaths, while another early report gave an even higher provisional figure. The later official court record stated that 38 people had died by the time of prosecution and four more died afterward, bringing the final documented total to 42.
The investigation focused on a rival food-shop operator
Chinese court reporting said Chen Zhengping operated a noodle or pastry shop in the Tangshan area and had a dispute with Chen Zongwu, the proprietor of a competing shop. The court found that Chen Zhengping resented the rival shop's successful business and decided to retaliate.
According to the judgment reported by China News Service and Xinhua-linked outlets, Chen entered the rival shop late on September 13 and placed the highly toxic rodenticide tetramine, commonly known in China as dushuqiang, into food ingredients. Customers who ate products made from those ingredients the next morning were poisoned.
Police said the case was solved within roughly 78 hours. Chen was arrested after fleeing and admitted the poisoning conduct described in the prosecution.
Why the death toll in old coverage does not always match
The changing death toll is a good example of why historical breaking-news figures should not automatically become permanent archive facts. The Guardian reported 38 deaths when the first-instance sentence was announced. Earlier coverage had carried still different provisional figures while victims remained hospitalized.
By the time later Chinese court reporting summarized the case, the record stated that four additional victims had died after the prosecution stage. The final figure used here — 42 deaths and more than 300 people poisoned — is the figure repeated in the judgment coverage and the report of the eventual execution.
The September 30 trial
The Nanjing Intermediate People's Court tried Chen Zhengping on September 30, 2002. The court found that his deliberate placement of a highly toxic substance endangered public safety and caused exceptionally grave consequences.
Chinese reporting described the conviction under the offence of placing dangerous substances — an offence directed at conduct that endangers public safety. The court sentenced Chen to death and deprivation of political rights for life.
That legal description matters. Although the conduct caused many intentional deaths, this page does not overwrite the actual conviction with a different translated charge simply because another label might sound more familiar in English.
Appeal and final judgment
Chen appealed the first-instance judgment. The Jiangsu High People's Court reviewed the case and held that the lower court's factual findings were clear, the evidence was sufficient, the conviction was correct, the punishment appropriate and the trial procedure lawful.
The high court rejected the appeal, upheld the death sentence and, under the authority then applicable to the court, approved the sentence. This provides a clear appellate endpoint rather than leaving the archive at the first-instance stage.
Execution in October 2002
On October 14, 2002, Chinese reporting announced that Chen Zhengping had been executed in Nanjing after the Jiangsu High People's Court approved the death sentence. The execution closed the criminal proceeding against him.
For this archive, the case is therefore Solved / Adjudicated: the perpetrator was identified, prosecuted, convicted, his appeal was rejected and the sentence was carried out. The page does not use the speed of the proceedings as a substitute for source verification; the classification rests on the documented sequence of trial, appellate review and execution.
Timeline
Late September 13, 2002: according to the court, Chen Zhengping places tetramine into ingredients at a rival Tangshan food shop.
September 14, 2002: customers become ill after eating food made from the contaminated ingredients; a mass medical emergency follows.
Within days: police arrest Chen and the investigation identifies the poisoning method and commercial dispute described by prosecutors.
September 30, 2002: the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court convicts Chen of placing dangerous substances and sentences him to death.
Early October 2002: later court reporting records the death toll at 42 after four additional hospitalized victims die.
October 2002: the Jiangsu High People's Court rejects Chen's appeal and upholds and approves the death sentence.
October 14, 2002: Chen Zhengping is executed in Nanjing.
Current status
The 2002 Nanjing Tangshan poisoning is Solved / Adjudicated. The final court-linked reporting records 42 deaths and more than 300 poisonings. Chen Zhengping was convicted, the Jiangsu High People's Court rejected his appeal, and the sentence was carried out on October 14, 2002.
Sources
- China News Service — appeal rejected, death sentence approved and execution, October 14, 2002
- China News Service / Xinhua — trial judgment, legal classification and final 42-death count, October 3, 2002
- Xinhua via Sina — 42-death count and first-instance judgment, October 4, 2002
- The Guardian — contemporary first-instance report and early 38-death figure, October 1, 2002