Waist chop
Waist chop or waist cutting, also known as cutting in two at the waist, was a form of execution used in ancient China. As its name implies, it involved the condemned being sliced in two at the waist by an executioner.
History
Waist chopping first appeared during the Zhou dynasty. There were three forms of execution used in the Zhou dynasty: chēliè, zhǎn, and shā. Sometimes, the chopping was not limited to one slice.The first Ming dynasty emperor Zhu Yuanzhang sentenced the poet Gao Qi to be sliced into eight parts for his politically satirical writing.
In the modern Chinese language, "waist chop" has evolved to become a metaphor for the cancellation of an ongoing project, especially cancellation of television programs.
Notable people sentenced to waist chop
- Li Si
- Chao Cuo
- Gongsun Ao
- Liu Qumao
- Ren An
- Yang Yun
- Yu Fang
- Huo Yu
- Xiahou Xuan
- Liu Shen
- Liu Lancheng
- Bianji
- Wang Ya
- Shu Yuanyu
- Li Qi
- Li Shihui
- Huang Dehe
- Gao Qi
- Fang Xiaoru
- Yu Hongtu
- * According to a legend not attested in the official histories recounts that in 1734, Yu Hongtu, the Education Administrator of Henan, was sentenced to a waist chop. After being cut in two at the waist, he remained alive long enough to write the Chinese character cǎn seven times with his own blood before dying. After hearing this, the Yongzheng Emperor abolished this form of execution. However, according to other sources such as Draft History of Qing and Qing shi bian nian, Yu was beheaded instead, not chopped at the waist.