Controversy Erupts as Execution of Chinese Actor Revealed After Death and Film Released Posthumously

First Execution of a Chinese Celebrity
Death Occurred Last Year

The fact that a Chinese actor was executed last year has only recently come to light. This marks the first time an execution has been carried out among celebrities in China, and controversy arose when a film he had appeared in was released posthumously.

According to Chinese media outlets such as Global Times and Jiupai News on July 23, the Intermediate People's Court of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, recently released an investigative report on a murder case that caused a significant stir in society. Chinese actor Zhang Yiyang murdered his underage girlfriend in 2022 after she informed him of her intention to break up. He was put on trial on charges of killing her with a weapon and mutilating her body. He became the first Chinese celebrity to be sentenced to death for intentional homicide and died on December 18 last year.

Actor Zhang Yiyang, the first to be executed in China. Zhang Yiyang Weibo.

Police investigations revealed that Zhang Yiyang exhibited a strong desire for control and paranoia. The motive for the crime was identified as stemming from long-suppressed resentment and his inability to accept the breakup. At the time, the court determined that Zhang Yiyang's actions were brutal and had a profoundly negative impact on society.

However, because Zhang Yiyang was an almost unknown actor in China, news of his execution was not made public for a long time. It was only after the execution notice from the Intermediate People's Court of Shaanxi Province spread through social networking services (SNS) that the fact of his execution became widely known.

Meanwhile, it was also belatedly revealed that the film "Heal Your Soul" (Jieyouinshengguan), in which Zhang Yiyang appeared, was released in March this year. China strictly manages entertainers with anti-government tendencies. However, Chinese netizens expressed doubts about the release of a film featuring an actor who was executed for murder, regardless of his obscurity.

On Baidu, China's largest search engine, "Zhang Yiyang, the first Chinese actor to be executed" climbed the real-time search rankings. On the entertainment section of Weibo, China's social media platform, "Zhang Yiyang sentenced to death for killing his girlfriend" ranked number one in real-time searches, drawing significant attention from netizens. Comments included, "I've never seen this actor before," "I didn't know something like this happened," "It's truly frightening that someone could do such a thing," and "I can't believe a film starring an executed actor was released."