was there a time in China when human sacrifice was practiced?

Great question! I would say yes...last weekend I visited the Nan Yue King's Tomb in Guangzhou and, together with him, there was remainings of four concubines, one wife, soldiers and servants. Not that these people were offered in scrifice to the god/gods, but they were sacrificed to accompany and serve their king in the "after life".

The Chinese don't practice the sacrificing of humans for the god(s). But the wealthier (and more powerful) ones would sometimes have their wives/concubines buried with them as to accompany them.

The other major human sacrifice I can think of was during the time of the First Emperor, where he got slaves to build the Great Wall (and it's said that many were buried alive underneath the wall), and when he burnt scholars whom he saw as a threat and those who rebelled against his orders.

Today, the construction and factory industry..joke.

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Yes, Before 221BC, it was common, after feudality was set up in China, it was almost demolished, but never completely demolished until Ming dynasty (early 16th century)

Aman is right, wiki does say that they used to practice his in ancient times and that funeral human sacrifice was carried out over the course of time.

Wiki has some interesting stuff on this topic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice#China

From prehistory age to zhou dynasty, it was popular.