Editing Death by 1000 Cuts

'''[[File:Images2617.jpg|thumb]]Slow slicing (Lingchi)''' ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_characters simplified Chinese]: [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%87%8C 凌][http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%BF%9F 迟]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_characters traditional Chinese]: [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%87%8C 凌][http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%81%B2 遲]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin pinyin]: [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/l%C3%ADng líng][http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ch%C3%AD chí], alternately transliterated ''Ling Chi'' or ''Leng T'che''), also translated as the ''slow process'', the ''lingering death'', or ''death by a thousand cuts'' ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_characters simplified Chinese]: [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%9D%80 杀][http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8D%83 千][http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%88%80 刀]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_characters traditional Chinese]: [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%AE%BA 殺][http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8D%83 千][http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%88%80 刀]) or “千刀万剐”, was a form of torture and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution execution] used in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China] from roughly AD 900 until it was banned in 1905. In this form of execution, the condemned person was killed by using a knife to methodically remove portions of the body over an extended period of time. The term língchí derives from a classical description of ascending a mountain slowly. Lingchi was reserved for crimes viewed as especially severe, such as treason and killing one's parents. The process involved tying the person to be executed to a wooden frame, usually in a public place. The flesh was then cut from the body in multiple slices in a process that was not specified in detail in Chinese law and therefore most likely varied. In later times, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium opium] was sometimes administered either as an act of mercy or as a way of preventing fainting. The punishment worked on three levels: as a form of public humiliation, as a slow and lingering death, and as a punishment after death.

According to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucian Confucian] principle of filial piety or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi%C3%A0o xiào] to alter one's body or to cut the body is a form of punishment for unfilial practice (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiao_Jing Xiao Jing]). Lingchi therefore contravenes the demands of ''xiao''. In addition, to be cut to pieces meant that the body of the victim would not be "whole" in a spiritual life after death. This method of execution became a fixture in the image of China among some Westerners.

[[Category:Oppression]]

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