The announcement of more mass executions, especially of those found guilty of endangering the economic well-being of China, came a month after the official launching of a nationwide crackdown against graft.

At least 70 people had reportedly been sentenced to death in recent days.

In Sichuan's Chongqing city, 32 people were executed on Saturday for murder, robbery, rape and other serious crimes.

Official reports said many of those executed were involved in Chinese secret societies and other organised crime groups, which had defied government crackdowns for centuries.

Nanjing authorities executed 13 people on September 18, the Jiangsu Legal News reported.

On Monday, Yangcheng Evening News said Guangzhou executed at least eight people.

The highest number of people to face the death penalty on a single day occurred in Jiangxi yesterday. More than 80 people were executed for serious crimes following a series of public trials.

Those executed were found guilty of burglary, highway robbery and theft, the Yangcheng Evening News said, adding that they had ''seriously endangered social order''.

In one case, a jobless young man allegedly teamed up with another peasant and used knives to rob more than 46 people. Five of the victims were assaulted.

In reviewing the verdict, the provincial High Court said the pair's crimes had caused a huge public outcry in the province, the paper reported.

''It would have been difficult to pacify public indignation if they had not been killed,'' it said.

In Fuzhou, the provincial Intermediate Court meted out heavy penalties to 15 people alleged to have committed crimes such as murder, rape, theft and burglary.

Seven were executed while others were given suspended death sentences, life imprisonment and 15-year jail terms.

On Monday, the People's Supreme Court rejected appeals against the death penalty from eight financial workers charged with serious crimes and attempts to flee prosecution.

The People's Daily said yesterday, in a strongly-worded editorial on the cases, that alarms bells for the financial sector against corruption should be rung all the time.

''Finance is the lifeline of the national economy. If financial organs operate normally, they promote economic construction, but, if problems arise, they can impede economic construction,'' it said.

It blamed the poor implementation of relevant regulations by banking industry superiors as the reason for financial scandals.

The superiors did not understand finance or study it properly and lacked a proper sense of responsibility and understanding of management, the newspaper said.