What happened in Nanping
On the morning of March 23, 2010, children were arriving at Nanping Experimental Elementary School in Fujian Province when an adult attacker targeted pupils near the school entrance. Eight children died and five others were injured. Local authorities identified the arrested man as Zheng Minsheng, a former community doctor from Nanping.
Contemporary reports varied on a few biographical details, including whether Zheng was 41 or 42 at different points in the proceedings. The criminal record itself is much clearer about the central facts: the attack occurred on March 23, eight children were killed, five were seriously injured, and Zheng was taken into custody immediately afterward.
Investigation and motive claims
Police said Zheng had previously worked at a community clinic and had left that position in 2009. Investigators publicly attributed his actions to personal frustration involving relationships and his sense that his life had failed. Those descriptions came from the police and prosecution context; they are not a justification and should not be treated as a complete psychological explanation for the crime.
Early reporting also contained inconsistent claims about whether Zheng had a history of mental illness. Later police statements cited in the court coverage said he did not have a history of mental disorder. Because those contemporary accounts conflicted, this page does not make a broader psychiatric diagnosis. The legally important point is that the courts proceeded on the basis that he was criminally responsible.
Trial and conviction
Zheng was tried before the Intermediate People's Court of Nanping on April 8, 2010, just over two weeks after the killings. Prosecutors charged him with intentional homicide. The court heard witness and documentary evidence and convicted him of murdering the eight children and injuring five others.
The court imposed a death sentence. Zheng appealed, asking for leniency. On April 20, the Fujian Provincial Higher People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld both the murder conviction and the sentence, finding the original judgment supported by the evidence and proper procedure.
Supreme People's Court review
Under the applicable capital-case procedure, the sentence required review by China's Supreme People's Court. The Supreme People's Court approved the death sentence. Zheng was executed in Nanping on April 28, 2010, according to Xinhua reporting carried by China Daily and China.org.cn.
The criminal case is therefore legally concluded. The verified sequence is unusually compressed: attack on March 23, first-instance conviction on April 8, appellate decision on April 20, final approval and execution on April 28.
Why the case mattered beyond one prosecution
The Nanping killings became the first in a disturbing cluster of attacks on schoolchildren in China in 2010. Those later crimes were separate events with different perpetrators and should not be merged into this case file. Nanping is documented here as its own criminal proceeding, with its own victims, evidence and adjudication.
The speed of the prosecution drew international attention. This page records that timing without speculating that speed itself proved any procedural defect. The available public court reporting confirms a conviction, an appellate review and Supreme People's Court approval.
Timeline
March 23, 2010: eight children are killed and five injured outside Nanping Experimental Elementary School. Zheng Minsheng is arrested.
April 8: the Intermediate People's Court of Nanping convicts Zheng of intentional homicide and imposes a death sentence.
April 20: the Fujian Provincial Higher People's Court rejects Zheng's appeal and upholds the judgment.
April 28: after Supreme People's Court approval, the sentence is carried out in Nanping.
Current status
The case is solved and adjudicated. Zheng Minsheng was convicted of intentional homicide for killing eight children. His appeal was rejected, the Supreme People's Court approved the sentence, and the sentence was carried out in April 2010.