# Did the Chinese really practice "death by a thousand cuts"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-chinese-really-practice-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/588556>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [July 10, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-chinese-really-practice-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/588556 "2011-07-10T22:42:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leninewt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c6cbf5/32.png) [@leninewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leninewt)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-chinese-really-practice-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/588556/1 "2011-07-10T22:42:30Z")

</div>

Cecil?

What about the time honored practice of the Europeans of burning there victims to death, slowly. It seems far more barbaric than any other method I’ve ever heard of. The mesoamericans ripped the beating hearts out if their enemy’s chest. And this has been labeled by the west as “human sacrifice”. The Spanish and others brunt their enemies at the stake, for much the same reasons ie. religion and it is termed execution. A white washing of Europe’s wicked history? Or a prejudice about people who’s land was stolen from them?

Personally I’d rather have my heart ripped out. Death in two minutes, tops.

Leninewt

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-chinese-really-practice-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/588556/2 "2011-07-10T22:54:19Z")

</div>

I have no idea what you are talking about but somewhere in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=608681) thread is an early photo of the process.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-chinese-really-practice-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/588556/3 "2011-07-11T13:50:41Z")

</div>

> [@leninewt](#):
>
> The mesoamericans ripped the beating hearts out if their enemy’s chest. And this has been labeled by the west as “human sacrifice”. The Spanish and others brunt their enemies at the stake, for much the same reasons ie. religion and it is termed execution.

Well, “sacrifice” does have a specific meaning in most cases. You speak in very general terms, but I think one could find the devil in the details.

And according to Marvin Harris, the Aztecs didn’t just kill their victims; they also ate them.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-chinese-really-practice-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/588556/4 "2011-07-11T19:29:02Z")

</div>

> [@leninewt](#):
>
> Cecil?
> 
> What about the time honored practice of the Europeans of burning there victims to death, slowly. It seems far more barbaric than any other method I’ve ever heard of. The mesoamericans ripped the beating hearts out if their enemy’s chest. And this has been labeled by the west as “human sacrifice”. The Spanish and others brunt their enemies at the stake, for much the same reasons ie. religion and it is termed execution. A white washing of Europe’s wicked history? Or a prejudice about people who’s land was stolen from them?
> 
> Personally I’d rather have my heart ripped out. Death in two minutes, tops.
> 
> Leninewt

An interesting factoid I recently read in the book 1491 by Charles C. Mann is that, corrected for population, all mesoamerican societies sacrificed fewer people than European nations at the time.

If you’re interested in mesoamerican societies, I highly recommend that book.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-chinese-really-practice-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/588556/5 "2011-07-11T19:35:23Z")

</div>

> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> … the devil in the details.

😃

Yes, the motivation for killing was not just “religion”, but specific aspects of religion and narrower motivations within religion. The intent of “sacrifice” is different than the intent of “execution”, even if the result is similar.

That said, there probably was and may still be a perception difference about the barbarity of the acts that is unjustified.