Home > Death by a thousand cuts

The phrase 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.

1 Historicity

The actuality of this method of execution is attested by multiple sources:

• 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)

• 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)

• G.E. Morrison, An Australian in China, (1895) differs from some other reports in stating that most "Ling Chi" mutilations are in fact post mortem: " 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." [1]

• J. M. Roberts, Twentieth Century: The History of the World, 1901 to 2000 (2000): "For example, the traditional punishment of death by slicing (which became part of the western stereotype of Chinese backwardness as the 'death of a thousand cuts.') It 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)

• Sterling Seagrave's Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China (1993)—a 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 treasonIn law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to one's nation. A person who reneges on an oath of loyalty or a pledge of allegiance, and in some way willfully cooperates with an enemy, is considered to be a traitor . Oran's Dictionary of the Law ( 1983) defi." (p. 80)

2 Death by a thousand cuts and the United States Marine Corps

One account reports that United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps USMC is the second-smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. The United States Coast Guard is the smallest. The Marine Corps is nonetheless la members stationed in and around ShanghaiAlternate meanings: See Shanghai (disambiguation Shanghai ( Chinese: , pinyin: shang hi; Shanghainese IPA: /z h/) is China's largest city and is situated on the banks of the Chang Jiang delta. In Chinese, Shanghai's abbreviations are H ( or ) and Shen . between 1927Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 See also 1927 in aviation 1927 in film 1927 in literature 1927 in mu and 19411941 is also the title of a Steven Spielberg movie made in 1979 see 1941 (film). Events January January 6 Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union Address. January 10 Lend-Lease is introduced into the United St brought evidence of ling chi to the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in: "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.'" [2]