Nine familial exterminations

The nine familial exterminations or nine kinship exterminations (simplified Chinese: 株连九族; traditional Chinese: 株連九族; pinyin: zhū lián jiǔ zú; literally: "guilt by association of nine of a group/clan"; also known as zú zhū (族誅), literally "family execution" and miè zú (灭族/滅族), literally "family extermination" or "execution of nine relations") was the most serious punishment for a capital offense in Ancient China. A collective punishment typically associated with offenses such as treason, the punishment involved the execution of all relatives of an individual, which were categorized into nine groups. The occurrence of this punishment was somewhat rare, with relatively few sentences recorded throughout history. There were also variants of the punishment found in ancient Korea and Vietnam (the most prominent example being the family of Nguyễn Trãi).

The punishment by nine exterminations is usually associated with the tyrannical rulers throughout Chinese history who were prone to use inhumane methods of asserting control (compare with slow slicing, or "death by ten thousand cuts"). The first written account of the concept is in the Classic of History, a historical account of the Shang (1600 BC – 1046 BC) and Zhou (1045 BC – 256 BC) Dynasties, where it is recorded that prior to a military battle, officers would threaten their subordinates that they would exterminate their families if they refused to obey orders.

From the Spring and Autumn period (770BC–403BC), there are records of exterminations of "three tribes" (Chinese: 三族). A notable case where under the State of Qin, lawmaker Shang Yang's entire family was killed by order of King Huiwen of Qin, while Shang Yang himself was sentenced to death in 338 BC by being drawn and quartered, an ironic occurrence as it was Shang Yang who formulated such a punishment into Qin law in the first place, being commonly recorded as a lawmaker who used excessive punishments.

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