I’ve been reading a bit about slow-slicing a.k.a. Ling-chi, Leng T’che, the slow process, the lingering death, or death by a thousand cuts. There’s a lot of hype and bullshit about what this Chinese form of execution entailed, most common being that the process literally had the condemned being strategically sliced anywhere from 1,000-10,000 times, kept alive through careful cutting and drugs. This is more than likely complete and total bullshit. But, Ling-chi was a real method of execution. In fact, there’s a good number of photos out there.

Used for little over a thousand years in China, until it was outlawed in 1905, Leng-Chi was an extreme punishment usually reserved for treason, murder or crimes against one’s parents. Judging from existing photos of Leng-Chi executions that I’ve found, the convicted was brought out into a public area and tied upright to a stake. First, the prisoners breasts were removed, exposing the ribs, then the arms were removed at the bicep. Both legs were cut off at the knees and finally the head was removed. Some existing photos show the victim seeming to be lost in an ecstatic state, eyes cast to the sky and grinning. This could be caused by the prisoner being given a large amount of opium prior to the execution.

If you have the stomach for some old, black and white photos of several Ling-Chi executions as well as a plethora of beheadings, check out this gallery. There’s a ton of images, spanning many pages. Just start sifting through, be patient and you’ll find plenty of stuff.

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