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Death by a thousand cuts Wikipedia

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Death by a thousand cuts was, according to some sources, a method of torture and capital punishment|execution used in China until 1905.

Critics contend that the "death by a thousand cuts"--at least as related by some western world|Western sources--is a myth or urban legend, perhaps inspired by a genuine execution technique called "Slicing" (Chinese language|Chinese: 凌遲; pinyin: ling chi). Slicing was the most severe form of execution (legal)|execution in traditional China, in which several cuts would be made to the arms and legs before decapitation.

In some Western accounts, the Ling chi method was implemented by having small bits of skin or flesh cut from an individual over a period of days. Some victims were reportedly given doses of opium. Critics suggest that the Western version of death by a thousand cuts bears little or no resemblance to slicing as it was actually practiced.

Some of the debate and controversey seems to be due to translation errors. This was noted by Westerners as early as 1895. That year, Australian traveller G.E. Morrison wrote that "Ling Chi" was "commonly, and quite wrongly, translated as 'death by slicing into 10,000 pieces'???a truly awful description of a punishment whose cruelty has been extraordinarily misrepresented."

It is not unreasonable to suggest that "slicing"--as a genuine adjunct to execution--was exaggerated in some retellings to become the more sensationalistic "death by a thousand cuts." This apparent confusion might be due to the novelty of slicing to Western observers, or attributed to mistranslation, cultural differences, racism or other factors. This idea is perhaps supported by at least one source: J. M. Roberts, in Twentieth Century: The History of the World, 1901 to 2000 (2000), writes "the traditional punishment of death by slicing ... became part of the western stereotype of Chinese backwardness as the 'death of a thousand cuts.'" Roberts then notes that slicing "was ordered, in fact, for K'ang Yu-Wei, a man termed the 'Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau of China', and a major advocate of intellectual and government reform in the 1890's." (p. 60, footnote 8)

Furthermore, some instances of reported slicing were aparently performed extralegally by copycat vigilantes or criminals, or as war crimes. The cases reported below from 1927 might be such instances: slicing (ling chi) was officially abolished in 1905, but seems to have inspired some atrocities a generation later.

Some historians contend that the confusion comes from the fact that the particulars of the slicing punishment varied so widely throughout China, ranging from some cases similar to the gruesome stereotype, to others of less extreme character.

Regarding the use of opium, as related in the introduction to Morrison's book, Sir Meyrick Hewlett insisted that "most Chinese people sentenced to death were given large quantities of opium before execution, and Morrison avers that a charitable person would be permitted to push opium into the mouth of someone dying in agony, thus hastening the moment of decease." At the very least, such tales were deemed credible to British officials in China and other Western observers.

It should be pointed out that the Chinese were not alone in carrying out punishments regarded as cruel and unusual punishment|cruel and unusual: in England, for example, the punishment of drawing and quartering remained a penalty for high treason until well into the 19th Century. However, as Western countries moved to abolish such punishments (while at the same time, it is worth noting, sometimes imposing racially discrimatory laws against the Chinese), some Westerners began focus attention on the methods of execution used in China. As early as in 1866, Thomas Francis Wade, then serving with the British diplomatic mission in China, unsuccessfully urged the abolition of slicing (Ling Chi). It was not until 1905, when the Chinese penal code was revised by Shen Jiaben (沈家本, 1840-1913), that this method of execution was officially abolished.

Last Modified:   2005-11-07