Death by a Thousand Cuts

If I were to summarize this book in a sentence, it would be "Ling Chi - not as bad as you think". This book contained a detailed and well researched look at the history of judicial torture in China. All in all, for all its perceived brutality, judicial torture in China was much more restrained than its counterparts in Europe. I learned many things from reading this book, which is something I always enjoy.

In Autumn 1904 Wang Weiqin was executed in Beijing. The manner of execution is called in Chinese lingchi chusi, “to put to death by lingchi”. It has been translated as “death by a thousand cuts”, “death by slicing”, and “the lingering death”, none of which are an accurate description of the process described in the first chapter of this book. Even though parts of his flesh were sliced off before he was dead, he was most likely heavily sedated with opium. Lingchi was considered the most severe form of penalty, next was decapitation which was considered worse then strangulation. The order of severity of these methods of execution suggests that is was the separating of the body that was the worst thing that could happen, show more that perhaps one became less human if their head was separated from their body and humanity was totally destroyed if the body was cut in pieces as happened with lingchi. Even burying in an unmarked grave appears to be a part of the penalty and has some significance.

Decided to give up on this book. Not badly written but it reads like a textbook. With this subject matter, that is probably the best way to write but it makes it very difficult for me to read. I may get it again when I don’t have as many books to read. Realistically I probably won’t ever pick it up again. show less