I think how it generally goes in China is that a suspended sentence on the death penalty means life imprisonment in the absence of any new crimes. So he might only serve jail time. But I don’t have a serious source on that so don’t commit crime in China based on my advice.

(besides that though, I always find it odd how people draw the line at what punishments are acceptable for criminals. Why is locking him in a box forever fine but killing him is excessive? Unless there’s a concern of false conviction and a possibility of getting the ruling overturned, life imprisonment doesn’t seem like it’s the more ethical option.)