Chinese actor Zhang Yiyang was recently revealed to have been executed by a firing squad in December last year for killing his 16-year-old girlfriend.

He was 34 years old and is the first celebrity in China to have been handed a death sentence.

According to a court document released by Xianyang, Shaanxi, his girlfriend surnamed Zhang - who was 15 years old when they first dated - had wanted to break up.

Yiyang was opposed to it and threatened to kill himself during their quarrels. On Feb 26, 2022, he lured her into a forest in the guise of celebrating her birthday and cut her neck multiple times with a pocketknife, rupturing her carotid artery and windpipe.

He then went home to change his clothes, before throwing them and her mobile phone into a river .

The court document revealed he then tried to commit suicide in a hotel but was found by staff who called the police.

The court sentenced him to death for intentional homicide, and he was executed on Dec 18, 2024.

Yiyang's posthumous film Jie You Yin Sheng Guan premiered in March this year, and netizens recently took to Douban to give one-star ratings, criticising its release despite its lead actor being executed for murder.

One netizen remarked: "The male lead actor was executed for murder, but the movie he starred in still premiered."

syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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