Investigators said Chen Weijun, the 42-year-old owner of a karaoke bar in the city of Lishui, raped 14 girls from a local junior high school from the second half of 2007 to February 2009.

Chen was sentenced to death for the offenses by the Intermediate People's Court of Lishui on September 22, 2009.

He appealed to the Higher People's Court of Zhejiang, which upheld the verdict in December last year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

China has one of higest number of death sentences and executions in the world, according to figures complied by a top human rights watchdog.