Língchí (pinyin for Chinese 凌遲/凌迟; also ling che) is a form of execution used in China before the modern era and is usually known in English as "slicing" or "death by a thousand cuts". The literal meaning of língchí is "humiliating and slow"; the method was officially outlawed in 1905. Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell(ing) and yin means sound(s)). This article describes the most common variant called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme...

Língchí was sometimes used for the torture and execution of a living person, or applied as an act of humiliation only after death. It was meted out for offences such as acts of treason, murder or for assaulting one's parents. There are problems in obtaining details of how the execution took place. It seems however that the execution consisted of cuts to the arms, legs and chest, followed by a decapitation or a stab to the heart. The fatal stroke usually followed after several cuts, although the term "death by a thousand cuts" is an exaggeration. It was not unusual, for those who could afford it, to bribe the torturer so that the coup de grace came more quickly, thereby reducing the victim's suffering (see a version as performed in October 1904).

This method of execution became a fixture in the image of China among some Westerns. It appears in various romantic accounts of Chinese cruelty, such as Harold Lamb's 1930s biography of Genghis Khan. Harold Albert Lamb (1892 - 1962) was an American historian and novelist. ... For other uses, see Genghis Khan (disambiguation). ...

History

Língchí is known from the Five Dynasties period (907-960) and became very widespread in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). It first appeared in a Chinese code of laws for the non-Chinese Liao Dynasty (907-1125). Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (Traditional Chinese: 五代十國 Simplified Chinese: 五代十国 Hanyu pinyin: Wǔdàishíguó) (907-960) was a period of political upheaval in China, between the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

The punishment remained in the Qing Dynasty code of laws for persons convicted of high treason and other serious crimes. Língchí was abolished as a result of the 1905 revision of the Chinese penal code by Shen Jiaben (沈家本, 1840-1913; see [1]). The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: 清朝; Pinyin: QÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation or state. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

We know from Qing jurists such as Shen Jiaben that executioners' customs were at some variance, as the regular way to perform this penalty was not specified in detail in the Penal code. As practiced and documented photographically in 19th century Beijing, it involved carving of the biceps and quadriceps, then cutting off the right arms and legs at elbow and knee level, and finally decapitation. Beijing (Chinese: ; pinyin: Běijīng; ; IPA: ), a city in northern China (formerly spelled in English as Peking or Peiking), is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...

It should be pointed out that the Chinese were not alone in carrying out punishments regarded as cruel and unusual. However, as Western countries moved to abolish similar punishments, some Westerners began to focus attention on the methods of execution used in China. As early as in 1866, the year after the last recorded case of hanging, drawing and quartering, Thomas Francis Wade, then serving with the British diplomatic mission in China, unsuccessfully urged the abolition of língchí. The statement that the government shall not inflict cruel and unusual punishment for crimes is found in the English Bill of Rights signed in 1689 by William of Orange and Queen Mary II who were then the joint rulers of England following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... To be hanged, drawn, and quartered was the penalty once ordained in England for treason. ... Sir Thomas Francis Wade (August 25, 1818 - July 31, 1895) was a London-born British diplomat and Sinologist linguist who invented what was to become the Wade-Giles Romanization for Mandarin Chinese. ... Seal on the building of German Embassies. ...

Accounts

Below are some accounts from Western sources:

• Sir Henry Norman, The People and Politics of the Far East, (1895). He was a widely travelled writer, and photographer whose collection is now owned by Cambridge University. Norman claimed to have witnessed such an execution, and gave a graphic account in his book. "(The executioner) grasping handfuls from the fleshy parts of the body such as the thighs and breasts slices them away... the limbs are cut off piecemeal at the wrists and ankles, the elbows and knees, shoulders and hips. Finally the victim is stabbed to the heart and the head is cut off". (read and see complete Norman accounts)

• G.E. Morrison, An Australian in China, (1895) differs from some other reports in stating that most Ling Chi mutilations are in fact made post mortem. Morrison wrote his description based on an account related by a claimed eyewitness "The prisoner is tied to a rude cross: he is invariably deeply under the influence of opium. The executioner, standing before him, with a sharp sword makes two quick incisions above the eyebrows, and draws down the portion of skin over each eye, then he makes two more quick incisions across the breast, and in the next moment he pierces the heart, and death is instantaneous. Then he cuts the body in pieces; and the degradation consists in the fragmentary shape in which the prisoner has to appear in heaven. " [2]

• Tienstin (Tianjin), The China Year Book (1927), p 1401, contains contemporary reports from fighting in Guangzhou (Canton) between the Nanjing Government and Communist forces. Stories of various atrocities are related, including accounts of língchí. There is no mention of opium, and these cases appear to be government propaganda.

• The Times, (December 9 1927), A Times journalist reported from the city of Canton that the communists were targeting Christians priests and that "Father Wong it was announced was to be publicly executed by the slicing process." A local Archbishop was said to have been so condemned. There is no evidence, however, that this sentence was carried out.

• George Riley Scott, History of Torture, (1940) claims that many were executed this way by the Chinese communist insurgents; he cites claims made by the Nangking government in 1927. It is perhaps uncertain whether these claims were anti-communist propaganda. Scott also calls the it "the slicing process" and differentiates between the different types of execution in different parts of the country. There is no mention of opium. Riley's book contains a picture of a sliced corpse (with no mark to the heart) that was killed in Guangzhou (Canton) in 1927. It gives no indication of whether the slicing was done post mortem. Scott claims it was common for the relatives of the victim to bribe the executioner to kill the victim before the slicing procedure began.

• Sterling Seagrave's Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China (1993)—a semi-fictionalised biography of Empress Dowager Cixi—reports that "the Death of a Thousand Cuts ... is a classic form of execution practiced by every dynasty in China's history ... it was not at all exceptional in cases of high treason." (p. 80)

• Louise Levathes, When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433 (1994): "Huang was condemned to a particularly gruesome execution for high treason known as ling chi, or 'death by one thousand cuts.' Cuts were made on his chest, abdomen, arms, legs, and back, so that he very slowly bled to death over a period of time, perhaps as long as three days." (p. 71)

• Mark Costanzo, Just Revenge: Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty (1997): "'Death by a thousand cuts'—where small bits of flesh were carved away over a period of days—was sometimes used in ancient China." (p. 4)

• Academia Sinica resources website: 1. /1912-1925 (民國元年壬子──十四年乙丑)/1915──中華民國四年乙卯/七月 (略 ...) - 190 - 7,17 (六 ， 六) 革 命 黨 人 鍾 明 光 炸 傷 廣 東 將 軍 龍 濟 光 (明 光 被 凌 遲 處 死)。This means that Zhong Mingguang, from the Revolutionnary Party Geming dang, would have been executed by língchí for an attempt at bombing General Long Jiguang. But on this event, the most reliable Boorman Biographical dictionaary, II, 456 (Lung Chi-kuang), reads: “Lung Chi-kuang, who had become one of Yuan’s most trusted henchmen, further enraged the Kwangtung populace when he ordered a lanter procession in Canton to celebrate Yuan’s diplomatic “success.” [acceptance of the 21 demands] When Lung went to visit his brother on 17 July, during a flood in Canton, Chung Ming-kuang, a member of the worker’s assassination group, seized the opportunity to throw a bomb at him. It killed 17 members of Lung Chi-kuang’s bodyguard and the assassin, but Long received only a foot wound”. So, Zhong Mingguang did not suffer língchí as a form of execution, for he died from his own bombing. It is not known whether he was mutilated after death.

The first Western photographs of língchí were taken in 1890 in Guangzhou (Canton) ([3]). Sir Henry Norman, Bt (September 19, 1858 –June 4, 1939) was an English politician and journalist. ... The University of Cambridge (often called Cambridge University, or just Cambridge), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... George Ernest Morrison (February 4, 1862 – May 30, 1920) was an Australian adventurer born in Scotland and qualified as a medical doctor at Edinburgh University. ... An autopsy (also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy or obduction) is a medical procedure that consists of a thorough examination performed on a corpse after death, to evaluate disease or injury that may be present and to determine the cause and manner of a persons death. ... A Greek cross (all arms of equal length) above a saltire, a cross rotated by 45 degrees For other uses, see Cross (disambiguation). ... Opium is a narcotic analgesic drug which is obtained from the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L. or the synonym paeoniflorum). ... Heaven is an afterlife concept found in many religions or spiritual philosophies. ... (Chinese: ; pinyin: TiānjÄ«n; Postal System Pinyin: Tientsin) is one of the four municipalities of the Peoples Republic of China. ... An atrocity (from the Latin atrox, atrocious, from Latin ater = matte black (as distinct from niger = shiny black)) is a term used to describe crimes ranging from an act committed against a single person to one committed against a population or ethnic group. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ... In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. ... (Simplified Chinese: 广州; Traditional Chinese: 廣州; pinyin: GuÇŽngzhōu; Wade-Giles: Kuang-chou; Postal System Pinyin: Canton) is the capital of Guangdong Province in southern China. ... Bribery is the practice of offering a professional money or other favours in order to circumvent ethics in a variety of professions. ... Sterling Seagrave is best-selling author of The Soong Dynasty. ... Dowager Empress Cixi of China (1835-1908) The Dowager Empress Cixi 慈禧皇太后 (Chinese: 太后那拉氏; Pinyin: Cíxǐ Tàιhòu; Wade-Giles: Tzu-Hsi) (November 29, 1835 – November 15, 1908), popularly known in China as the Western Empress Dowager (西太后), and officially known posthumously as Empress Xiao Qin Xian (孝钦显皇后), was a powerful... Below is a table of the dynasties in Chinese history. ... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation or state. ... (Simplified Chinese: 广州; Traditional Chinese: 廣州; pinyin: GuÇŽngzhōu; Wade-Giles: Kuang-chou; Postal System Pinyin: Canton) is the capital of Guangdong Province in southern China. ...

Critics charge that this method of execution (at least as related by some Western sources) is not reliably attested, and that any citations to the contrary are a mixture of works ranging from the poorly researched to unverified eyewitness accounts. It has been alleged that these accounts are either based on ignorance and prejudice, are historically inaccurate, or simply do not refer to the fictional "Death by a Thousand Cuts".^{[citation needed]} See Occident (movement) for the French political movement. ...

U.S. military accounts

One account reports that United States Marine Corps members stationed in and around Shanghai between 1927 and 1941 brought evidence of human rights abuses to the United States: "The prevalence of executions and torture is evidenced by the scrapbooks brought back from China by the Marines. There are photographs of firing squads, beheadings, disembowelments, rape and such torture as 'the death of a thousand cuts.'" This article is becoming very long. ... Shanghai (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Shanghainese: ), stuated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is the largest city of the Peoples Republic of China. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... Execution by firing squad is a method of capital punishment, especially in times of war. ... Beheading. ... Disembowelment is evisceration, or the removing of some or all of vital organs, usually from the abdomen. ...

As the online Marine history notes, "Apparently these photographs were commercially available, because there are exact duplicates in many scrapbooks with the name of a commercial studio stamped on the backs of the photographs." Clearly, then, these 'curiosities' may have been widely circulating images bearing little relation to frequent practice, nor, indeed, any similarity with the reported practice that had existed prior to the 1905 prohibition of Slicing. Further perspectives may be revealed by the following statement: "Although morbid, these photographs are chilling testaments to the atrocities that were carried out by both the Chinese and Japanese in Shanghai between 1927 and 1941," suggesting that such gruesome occurrences, assuming they actually took place, may have been limited to instances of extreme brutality and war crime and did not necessarily bear any resemblance to any officially sanctioned practice which may or may not have actually existed.

Photographs from this same period, including lines of beheaded corpses, non-Chinese diplomats killed by gunfire, and a língchí victim, can be found in George Ryley Scott's A History of Torture.

Photographs from 1905

French soldiers in Beijing had the opportunity to photograph three different língchí executions:

• Wang Weiqin 王維勤, a former Official who killed two families, executed on the 31 October 1904: see pictures http://turandot.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Event.php?ID=8 ; and an essay about this case see http://turandot.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Essay.php?ID=11

• Unknown, reason unknown, possibly a young deranged boy who killed his mother, and was executed in January 1905? Photographs were published by Dumas in 1934 Nouveau traité de psychologie (not in 1923 Traité de p.!), and again namely by Bataille, in fact by Lo Duca, who mistakenly appended abstracts of Fou-tchou-li's executions as related by Carpeaux (see below). See the complete set: http://turandot.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Event.php?ID=10

• Fou-tchou-li (pinyin Fúzhūli 幅株哩), a Mongol guard who killed his master, the Mongol prince of Aohan Banner, and who was executed on the 10 April 1905; as língchí was to be abolished two weeks later, this was presumably the last attested case of it in Chinese history (See the complete set) . Photographs appeared in books by Matignon (1910), and Carpeaux (1913), the latter claiming (falsely) that he was present. Carpeaux's narrative was mistakenly, but persistently, associated to photographs published by Dumas and Bataille. Even related to the right set of photos, Carpeaux's narrative is highly dubious; for instance, an examination of the Chinese judicial archives show that Carpeaux bluntly invented the execution decree below:

The execution proclamation is reported to state "'The Mongolian Princes demand that the aforesaid Fou-Tchou-Le, guilty of the murder of Prince Ao-Han-Ouan, be burned alive, but the Emperor finds this torture too cruel and condemns Fou-Tchou-Li to slow death by Leng-Tch-e (cutting into pieces). Respect this!" [4]

Photographic material and other sources are available online at the Chinese Torture Database (Iconographic, Historical and Literary Approaches of an Exotic Representation) hosted by the Institut d'Asie Orientale (CNRS, France) at http://turandot.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/. The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) is one of the most prominent scientific research institutions in France. ...

Other uses or citations of the 1905 photographs include:

• Georges Bataille

Adrien Borel, Georges Bataille's analyst, introduced Bataille to the photographs. Bataille became fascinated by the photographs, reportedly gazing at them daily. He included the photos in his The Tears of Eros. (1961; translated to English and published by City Lights in 1989) [5]

This book is dubious in its content, as well as in its authorship, and the getting from Borel is very likely a belated invention [6] George Bataille Georges Bataille (September 16, 1897 – July 9, 1962) was a French writer, anthropologist and philosopher, though he avoided this last term himself. ... A fairly broad term for a person or tool with a primary function of information analysis, generally with a more limited, practical and short term set of goals than a researcher. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... City Lights bookstore as it was in July of 2003. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• Julio Cortàzar

Julio Cortàzar in his 1963 novel Rayuela apparently refers to Língchí in chapter 14, where Oliveira is looking at a set of Chinese execution pictures owned by Wong.

• Hannibal

The 1905 incident inspired a brief reference in Thomas Harris's novel Hannibal (2000): "...police photographs of his (Lecter's) outrages were bootlegged to collectors of hideous arcana. They were second in popularity only to the execution of Fou-Tchou-Li." [7]

• Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag mentions the 1905 case in Regarding the Pain of Others (2003). One reviewer wrote that though Sontag includes no photographs in her book—a volume about photography—"she does tantalisingly describe a photograph that obsessed the perverse philosopher Georges Bataille, in which a Chinese criminal, while being chopped up and slowly flayed by executioners, rolls his eyes heavenwards in transcendent bliss." [8]

• John Zorn

Saxophonist and composer John Zorn used at least one of the 1905 photos with his 1992 Naked City album, Leng Tch'e.

• Chen Chien-jen

Inspired by the 1905 photos, Chinese artist Chen Chien-jen created a 25-minute motion picture called Lingchi, which has generated some controversy. [9]

Rayuela (translated into English as Hopscotch) is the most famous novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar. ... Thomas Harris. ... Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe; title page of 1719 newspaper edition A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... Hannibal, a novel by Thomas Harris, is the source material for the film Hannibal, directed by Ridley Scott. ... Hannibal Lecter as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins. ... A skirmish with smugglers from Finland at the Russian border, 1853, by Vasily Hudiakov. ... Arcanum, from the Latin arcere, to shut away in an arca, cf. ... Susan Sontag (January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was a well-known American essayist, novelist, intellectual, filmmaker and activist. ... Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. ... George Bataille Georges Bataille (September 16, 1897 – July 9, 1962) was a French writer, anthropologist and philosopher, though he avoided this last term himself. ... for other uses please see Crime (disambiguation) A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law. ... Michelangelos Last Judgment - Saint Bartholomew holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin Flaying is the removal of skin from the body. ... Heaven is an afterlife concept found in many religions or spiritual philosophies. ... In philosophy, transcendental/transcendence, has three different but related primary meanings, all of them derived from the words literal meaning (from Latin), of climbing or going beyond: one that originated in Ancient philosophy, one in Medieval philosophy and one in modern philosophy. ... A saxophonist is a musician who plays the saxophone. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Naked City was an avant-garde music group led by saxophonist and composer John Zorn. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as part of...

Western perceptions of língchí

In some Western mythology the condemned was stripped and bound to a pole. The torturer, wielding an extremely sharp knife, typically began by putting out the eyes, rendering the victim incapable of seeing the remainder of the torture and, presumably, adding considerably to the psychological terror of the procedure. Successive cuts chopped off ears, nose, tongue, fingers, toes, and such before proceeding to grosser cuts that removed large collops of flesh from more sizable parts, e.g., thighs and shoulders.

It is sometimes alleged that the ancient Chinese practiced other techniques of cutting to death, but their specific names are not recorded. One particular, if un-sourced and likely fictional, technique, only annotated in George Ryley Scott's A History of Torture Throughout the Ages, involves making a "prisoner sandwich," as it were, with the body positioned between a pair of two-meter-high boards that are roped in place. Once the sandwich has been prepared, a two-man band saw is used to carve delicate patterns in the wood, inevitably carving the same stylish designs in the prisoner's body. This is not particularly credible based on basic medical knowledge and Chinese culture.

In some Western accounts, the Death by a Thousand Cuts involved having small bits of skin or flesh cut from an individual over a period of days. Some victims were reportedly given doses of opium. The Western version of a Death by a Thousand Cuts bears little or no resemblance to língchí as it was actually practiced. There are strange, occasionally funny, discrepancies between descriptions and evaluations according to the authors' moral and religious background: Protestants tend to understate, while Catholics exaggerate, physical ordeals. [10] Opium is a narcotic analgesic drug which is obtained from the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L. or the synonym paeoniflorum). ...

The distinction between the Western myth and the Chinese reality 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." (read Morrison's original text) George Ernest Morrison (February 4, 1862 – May 30, 1920) was an Australian adventurer born in Scotland and qualified as a medical doctor at Edinburgh University. ...

Some modern writers suggest that língchí -- 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 'Rousseau of China', and a major advocate of intellectual and government reform in the 1890's." (p. 60, footnote 8) An African-American man drinks out of the colored only water cooler at a racially segregated street car terminal in the United States in 1939. ... John Morris Roberts (April 14, 1928 - 30 May 2003) was a British historian, with significant published works, well known also as the presenter of the BBC television series The Triumph of the West (1985). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Kang Youwei (March 19, 1858–March 31, 1927) was a Chinese scholar and political reformist. ... ......... Jean-Jacques Rousseau (June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778) was a Geneva-born philosopher of the Enlightenment whose political ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism. ...

Although officially outlawed by the Qing government in 1905, língchí became a widespread Western symbol of the Chinese penal system from the 1910s on. Three sets of photographs were shot by French soldiers in 1904-1905 were the basis for later mythification and gruesome fancies. The abolition was immediately enforced, and definitely: no lingchi was ever performed in China after April 1905, the reported cases are all based on mistaken dating of the last executions. For instance, the 4th Marine website quoted above confuses atrocities committed in 1927-31 Shanghai by Nationalists and Communists with much older photographs; although the two examples are mentioned in the same sentence, as part of the same intolerable Chinese reality, they are in fact separated by a distance of 25 years in time. The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: 清朝; Pinyin: QÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire...

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.

Uses in fiction

In his novel The Journeyer, author Gary Jennings demonstrates the distinction between Western myth and Chinese reality by referring to the "Death of a Thousand" as a torture procedure he explains thus: One thousand pieces of paper are placed in a container, and a paper is drawn out by the Fondler (the torturer) to determine where the cut will be made. Having determined that there are 333 body parts, each of these parts is represented three times (for a total of 999 - the 1,000th paper represents immediate death). For example, the pinky finger - when the first paper is drawn denoting the pinkie finger, perhaps the digit will be removed to the first joint. The second time the pinky finger paper is drawn, another section to the next joint is amputated. The third time the pinky finger paper is drawn, the rest of the finger is amputated. Jennings also fictionalizes in the book that, in an extended form of the torture, the body parts and blood are fed to the victim as the victim's only nourishment. Gary Jennings (September 20, 1928 – February 13, 1999) was a U.S. author noted for several historical fiction novels: Aztec, a story of the Aztec empire just before and during the arrival of the Spanish; Aztec Autumn, a story of the Aztecs following the Spanish conquest; and The Journeyer, an...

In the novel Flashman and the Dragon by George MacDonald Fraser, reference is made to a prisoner being bound tightly in a thin wire mesh through which nubs of flesh protrude. These are then cut off by the torturer with a sharp razor. In order to kill the prisoner, the razor is run quickly over many nubs of flesh at once. Flashman and the Dragon is a 1986 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. ... George MacDonald Fraser (born 1926 in Carlisle, England) is a writer of Scottish descent. ...

In the movie The Siege, Bruce Willis tortures a suspected terrorist to death using this practice. For the Star Trek: Deep Space 9 episode, see The Siege (DS9 episode). For the Stargate Atlantis episode, see The Siege (Stargate Atlantis). The Siege is a 1998 film directed by Edward Zwick and starring Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Annette Bening, and Tony Shalhoub. ... Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955 as Walter Bruce Willis in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany) is ausually referred to as Bogdan. Bruce Bogdan Willis is an American actor best known for his role as John McClane in the Die Hard series of films. ...

Other uses of the term

The phrase "death of a thousand cuts" is often used metaphorically to describe the gradual destruction of something, such as an institution or program, by repeated minor attacks. The term is also used in business management to describe a product or idea that is damaged or destroyed by too many minor changes. In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin) is a rhetorical trope defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. ... Management (from Old French ménagement the art of conducting, directing, from Latin manu agere to lead by the hand) characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organization, often a business, through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible). ...