Note 322 — LVI. DR. TSÊNG’S DREAM.
Herbert Allen Giles translation
This is the celebrated form of death, reserved for parricide and similar awful crimes, about which so much has been written. Strictly speaking, the malefactor should be literally chopped to pieces in order to prolong his agonies; but the sentence is now rarely, if ever, carried out in its extreme sense. A few gashes are made upon the wretched victim’s body, and he is soon put out of his misery by decapitation. As a matter of fact, this death is not enumerated among the Five Punishments authorized by the Penal Code of the present dynasty. See No. LV., note 306. return to footnote anchor 322 return to footnote anchor 672