Long Zhimin was a farmer born in Shang County (now Shangzhou District, Shangluo) in Shaanxi Province, China. While little is known about his childhood or exact birth year, records confirm that in 1974, due to the construction of the Nanqin Reservoir, Long was relocated to Wangjian Village in Yangyuhe Township (now Yangyuhe Town).

In 1978, he married Yan Shuxia, a local woman who suffered from disabilities related to meningitis. Despite their quiet appearance as a rural couple, Long and Yan would soon carry out one of the most shocking mass murder cases in modern Chinese history.

Long posed as a man with “connections” to wealthy families and high-paying jobs. This deception was especially powerful in post-Cultural Revolution rural China, where opportunities were rare and poverty rampant. His ability to manipulate the desperation of villagers played a major role in what would become a two-year killing spree.

He used his house and the promise of free accommodation as bait. Victims — many of them peasants, migrant workers, and wanderers — were encouraged to visit Long’s home, where they were never seen again.

Between March 1983 and May 1985, Long Zhimin and his wife Yan Shuxia carried out the premeditated murders of 48 people — 31 men and 17 women — in Wangjian Village, Shaanxi Province. Their methods were based on manipulation and cold, calculated luring. Long would promise job referrals, high-income connections, or housing opportunities. Once the victim entered the couple’s home, they were killed and buried in secret locations on the property.

It wasn’t just about robbery. Investigations later revealed that Long exploited his victims for free labor, sexual gratification, and eventually murdered them for the sheer pleasure of killing. According to criminal psychologists, what began as a way to gain material benefit morphed into a pathological compulsion, with Long finding addictive pleasure in the act of murder itself.

The victims were buried in three large mass graves hidden within Long’s farmland. Additional bodies were discovered under piles of wheat straw and inside fertilizer bags near the toolshed. Some had been killed shortly after arriving, while others may have been held briefly before being murdered.

Authorities were finally alerted when relatives of multiple missing persons demanded action. On May 28, 1985, local police searched Long’s property and were horrified to uncover dozens of decomposing corpses. The case quickly escalated to the Chinese State Council and even Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of China's central government — a sign of its national importance and shock value.

On August 30, 1985, prosecutors formally charged Long and Yan with murder. Their trial began in Shangluo Intermediate Court, and by September 20, both were convicted and sentenced to death. They filed an appeal, but it was quickly denied by the Higher People’s Court. Seven days later, on September 27, 1985, Long Zhimin and Yan Shuxia were executed by firing squad.

Their case became one of the most infamous in modern Chinese criminal history. So sensitive was the matter that it remained classified for decades — only in 2011 did the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security department release case photos and official confirmation to the public.

Long’s name has since become synonymous in China with rural horror, deception, and the dark underbelly of exploitation in post-revolution rural society.