The Five Punishments was the collective name for a series of physical penalties meted out by the legal system of pre-modern Dynastic China. Over time, the nature of the Five Punishments varied. One of the Five Punishments in Imperial China was Si, death. Following the Sui and Tang Dynasties there were generally two options: strangulation or decapitation.

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Imperial China, Prisoner Led to Execution, 1799

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