Death by a Thousand Cuts is a book by historians Timothy Brook, Gregory Blue, and Jérôme Bourgon which examines the use of slow slicing or lingchi, a form of torture and capital punishment practised in mid- and late-Imperial China from the tenth century until its abolition in 1905.

[1] Death by a Thousand Cuts investigates the use of slow slicing or lingchi, a form of torture and capital punishment practised in mid- and late-Imperial China from the tenth century until its abolition in 1905.

[2][3] By the time of the final imperial dynasty, the punishment could be meted out for an offence as simple as striking a teacher.

"[3] A staff reviewer at The Times states that "the authors present a nuanced picture of state-imposed execution and, without at any time condoning, succeed in their goal of contextualising lingchi in relation to Western forms of punishment" and that "this challenging and important work will appeal not solely to Sinologists,[5] but to legal historians and students of visual representation.

Jérôme Bourgon is a researcher at the Institut d’Asie Orientale / Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Lyon.