"Lingchi", also known as "Slow slicing" or "death by/of a thousand cuts", was a form of execution used in China from roughly 900 AD to its abolition in 1905. According to apocryphal lore, "lingchi" began when the torturer, wielding an extremely sharp knife, began by putting out the eyes, rendering the condemned incapable of seeing the remainder of the torture and, presumably, adding considerably to the psychological terror of the procedure. Successive rather minor cuts chopped off ears, nose, tongue, fingers, toes, and such before proceeding to grosser cuts that removed large collops of flesh from more sizable parts, e.g., thighs and shoulders. The entire process was said to last three days, and to total 3,600 cuts. The heavily carved bodies of the deceased were then put on a parade for a show in the public. More typical was to bribe the executioner to administer hasty death to the victim after a small number of dramatic slices inflicted for showmanship.