Timothy Brook is Professor of History and Republic of China Chair at the University of British Columbia. Jérôme Bourgon is Researcher at the Institut d’Asie Orientale / Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Lyon. Gregory Blue is Associate Professor of History, University of Victoria.

An ambitious, important book that will stimulate wide reflection. The authors explore the most infamous of Chinese tortures, tracing the ways in which the concept of 'death by a thousand cuts' took on a life of its own in European discourse about China, as well as in China's discourse about itself. Not the least of the book's virtues is the way it dismantles hasty judgments and received ideas about Chinese culture, ideas that leak from past to present, from the judicial realm to other areas of human activity. Its interdisciplinary reach and the brio with which it is carried out are remarkable.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. The Execution of Wang Weiqin 2. The Laws of Punishment in Late-Imperial China 3. The Origins and Legitimacy Problems of Lingchi 4. Lingchi in the Ming Dynasty 5. Tormenting the Dead 6. Chinese Torture in the Western Mind 7. Qing Executions and European Supplices 8. Georges Bataille and the Supplice Chinois 9. Retrospective Notes Bibliography Index

Timothy Brook is Professor of History and Republic of China Chair at the University of British Columbia. Jérôme Bourgon is Researcher at the Institut d’Asie Orientale / Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Lyon. Gregory Blue is Associate Professor of History, University of Victoria.

An ambitious, important book that will stimulate wide reflection. The authors explore the most infamous of Chinese tortures, tracing the ways in which the concept of 'death by a thousand cuts' took on a life of its own in European discourse about China, as well as in China's discourse about itself. Not the least of the book's virtues is the way it dismantles hasty judgments and received ideas about Chinese culture, ideas that leak from past to present, from the judicial realm to other areas of human activity. Its interdisciplinary reach and the brio with which it is carried out are remarkable.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. The Execution of Wang Weiqin 2. The Laws of Punishment in Late-Imperial China 3. The Origins and Legitimacy Problems of Lingchi 4. Lingchi in the Ming Dynasty 5. Tormenting the Dead 6. Chinese Torture in the Western Mind 7. Qing Executions and European Supplices 8. Georges Bataille and the Supplice Chinois 9. Retrospective Notes Bibliography Index

Timothy Brook is Professor of History and Republic of China Chair at the University of British Columbia. Jérôme Bourgon is Researcher at the Institut d’Asie Orientale / Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Lyon. Gregory Blue is Associate Professor of History, University of Victoria.

An ambitious, important book that will stimulate wide reflection. The authors explore the most infamous of Chinese tortures, tracing the ways in which the concept of 'death by a thousand cuts' took on a life of its own in European discourse about China, as well as in China's discourse about itself. Not the least of the book's virtues is the way it dismantles hasty judgments and received ideas about Chinese culture, ideas that leak from past to present, from the judicial realm to other areas of human activity. Its interdisciplinary reach and the brio with which it is carried out are remarkable.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. The Execution of Wang Weiqin 2. The Laws of Punishment in Late-Imperial China 3. The Origins and Legitimacy Problems of Lingchi 4. Lingchi in the Ming Dynasty 5. Tormenting the Dead 6. Chinese Torture in the Western Mind 7. Qing Executions and European Supplices 8. Georges Bataille and the Supplice Chinois 9. Retrospective Notes Bibliography Index