The most spectacular Chinese execution method was, ling chi (slow slicing), also known as “death by a thousand cuts.” Although the idea was to humiliate and draw out the death of a criminal, opium was often administered to the condemned before the execution. The procedure has been sensationalized and exaggerated by several writers and historians with dramatic details and photographs. Some suggested the process took days when, in actuality, it was usually completed within an hour. Ling chi was reserved for those who had committed the most heinous crimes: treason or the murder of one’s parents. Although outlawed in 1905 by the Manchu Government, 28 prominent officials were executed in this manner in 1927 during the Chinese Revolution. Sir Henry Norman described one ling chi execution in his 1895 book The People and Politics of the Far East:
“The criminal is fastened to a rough cross, and the executioner, armed with a sharp knife, begins grasping handfuls from the fleshy parts of the body, such as the thighs and the breasts, and slicing them off. After this he removes the joints and the excrescences of the body one by one - the nose and ears, fingers and toes. Then the limbs are cut off piecemeal at the wrists and ankles, the elbows and knees, the shoulders and hips. Finally, the victim is stabbed to the heart and his head cut off.”
(via officialtwistedsmile)
