Zheng Xiaoyu
Chinese official executed for corruption (1944-2007)
Zheng Xiaoyu (Chinese: 郑筱萸; pinyin: Zhèng Xiǎoyú; December 10, 1944 – July 10, 2007) was the director of the State Food and Drug Administration of the People's Republic of China from 2003 to 2005. He was sentenced to death for corruption and allowing possibly tainted products in mainland China in the first instance trial at Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court on May 29, 2007. He was executed on July 10, 2007.
Biography
Born in Fuzhou, Fujian, in 1944, Zheng Xiaoyu eventually studied to receive his bachelor's degree in biology from Fudan University in 1968. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in November 1979.
Zheng was the director of the State Pharmaceutical Administration from 1994 to 1998, the first head of the State Drug Administration, which he had successfully lobbied for its establishment, from 1998 to 2003, and director of the State Food and Drug Administration from 2003 to 2005.
In May 2007, Zheng was convicted of taking bribes and dereliction of duty and sentenced to death by a trial court in Beijing. He had taken bribes totaling more than 6.49 million RMB (or a rough equivalent of 850,000 USD) from eight pharmaceutical companies in exchange for personally approving unproven and unsafe medicines while working as the head of China's ministry of food and drug safety. These approvals caused the deaths of over 800 people in Panama from cough syrup that contained diethylene glycol in place of glycerin. It was also discovered that during the eight-year period of drug oversight, Zheng personally ordered approvals of more than 150,000 new medicines, a number 134-times that of the U.S. FDA (which approves, on average, ca.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Zheng Xiaoyu” as chinese official executed for corruption (1944-2007). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as chinese official executed for corruption (1944-2007). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q699804. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1944, 2007, 2003 and 2005.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Zheng Xiaoyu”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Zheng Xiaoyu primary sources, Zheng Xiaoyu archive and Zheng research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Zheng Xiaoyu”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Zheng Xiaoyu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.