Chen Fuzhao was born around 1974 in Cangnan County, Zhejiang Province, China. He was considered an intelligent student and displayed a keen interest in the medical field from an early age. In 1994, he graduated from the Hangzhou Jianggan District Health Cadre Training School, a provincial‑level institute that prepared students for medical and clinical service in China’s public health system. Shortly after graduation, he began working as an assistant clinical physician in a local health facility within Cangnan County. In 1996, Chen began practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned by the Chinese government in 1999. His involvement with Falun Gong was later cited as influencing his criminal actions.

Between 25 May and 26 June 2003, Chen Fuzhao carried out a series of poison attacks in the city of Longgang, Zhejiang Province. Using his medical background, he obtained rat poison and mixed it into bottled drinks that he distributed to homeless people and others living on the streets. The victims consumed the contaminated liquids, which caused severe symptoms of toxicity and led to 16 deaths within a month. His method involved offering beverages to vulnerable individuals who were unlikely to report him or draw immediate attention from authorities.

On 11 June 2003, Chen approached four primary school students and attempted to give them poisoned drinks. Fortunately, the children found the smell unpleasant and discarded the bottles without drinking them. This incident prevented further casualties and would later serve as critical evidence linking Chen to multiple poisoning sites.

Despite these events, Chen continued his attacks. On 27 June 2003, he placed rat poison in a thermos at the kitchen of Longhua Temple, also located in Longgang. A woman who drank from it fell fatally ill and died twelve days later. This brought his known death toll to seventeen victims. Police investigators later reported that Chen claimed he was “testing his powers” and believed he had been instructed by a spiritual master within Falun Gong to kill people in order to ascend to a higher plane. However, there was no evidence that the organization as a whole had any connection to his actions; Chinese authorities used the case as part of a broader campaign against Falun Gong practitioners.

Following a brief investigation, police traced the poisonings to Chen through toxicological evidence and eyewitness accounts. He was arrested on 1 July 2003 and quickly confessed. In his statement, he admitted to testing the rat poison on animals, including a dog belonging to his mother, before turning to human victims. Authorities found large quantities of poison at his home, as well as handwritten notes about his beliefs and experiments.

Chen was tried before the Intermediate People’s Court of Wenzhou and convicted of intentional homicide on 30 December 2003. The court noted the exceptional cruelty of his acts and his lack of remorse, stating that he posed a severe danger to society. He was sentenced to death and executed by shooting on 18 June 2004.