In a public square in Beijing in 1904, multiple murderer Wang Weiqin was executed before a crowd of onlookers. He was among the last to suffer the extreme punishment known as lingchi. Called by Western observers "death by a thousand cuts" or "death by slicing," this penalty was reserved for the very worst crimes in imperial China.A unique interdisciplinary history, "Death by a Thousand Cuts" is the first book to explore the history, iconography, and legal contexts of Chinese tortures and executions from the tenth century until lingchi's abolition in 1905. The authors then turn their attention to an in-depth investigation of "oriental" tortures in the Western imagination. While early modern Europeans often depicted Chinese institutions as rational, nineteenth- and twentieth-century readers consumed pictures of lingchi executions as titillating curiosities and evidence of moral inferiority.

By examining these works in light of European conventions associated with despotic government, Christian martyrdom, and ecstatic suffering, the authors unpack the stereotype of innate Chinese cruelty and explore the mixture of fascination and revulsion that has long characterized the West's encounter with "other" civilizations.Compelling and thought-provoking, "Death by a Thousand Cuts" questions the logic by which states justify tormenting individuals and the varied ways by which human beings have exploited the symbolism of bodily degradation for political aims.

[加]卜正民（Timothy Brook） 当代最著名的汉学家之一。多伦多大学文学士、哈佛大学文学硕士、哲学博士。历任多伦多大学、斯坦福大学等校教授，英国牛津大学邵氏汉学教授，现为加拿大英属哥伦比亚大学圣约翰学院院长、历史系教授。卜正民学术视野广阔，主要从事亚洲历史和文化的研究，研究领域涉及明代社会和文化史、二战时期日本在中国的占领，以及当代人权问题。编撰著作（含合著合编）数种，主要有：《纵乐的困惑：明代的商业与文化》《为权力祈祷：佛教与晚明中国士绅社会的形成》《中国与历史资本主义：汉学知识的系谱学》《民族的构建：亚洲精英及其民族身份》《明代的社会与国家》《维梅尔的帽子：从一幅画看全球化贸易的兴起》《鸦片政权： [此处多一空格]中国、英国和日本，1839—1952年》《通敌：战时中国的日本代领与地方精英》《明清历史的地理动因》《亚细亚生产方式在中国》《中国公民社会》等。

[法]巩涛（Jérôme Bourgon） 法国国家科学研究中心研究员，法国里昂东亚学院高级研究员。

[加]格力高利•布鲁（Gregory Blue） 加拿大维多利亚大学历史系副教授。

译者简介：

张光润 四川剑阁人，华东师范大学历史系博士研究生。

乐 凌 浙江湖州人，上海社会科学院历史研究所硕士研究生。现为浙江省嘉善高级中学教师。

伍洁静 上海人，上海社会科学院历史研究所硕士研究生。