The Punishments of China, 1804

5 comments to The Punishments of China, 1804

• CatM

  December 15, 2011 at 5:05 pm · Reply

  Wow, okay, some worse than others. Some quite mystifying.

• Megan

  January 20, 2012 at 6:58 am · Reply

  Now I want to know what they are for and what exactly some are doing…

• Connie

  February 19, 2012 at 5:43 pm · Reply

  Go to http://www.archive.org/stream/punishmentsofchi00maso#page/n111/mode/2up

  and read the explanations of the punishment. Very interesting.

• Chris

  March 5, 2012 at 5:14 am · Reply

  Thanks for the link Connie! Very interesting.
  If some of you don’t care to go and read the full descriptions (which I would recommend) the basic concepts are:
  1. trial 2. leading 3. escorting 4. err..spanking 5. ear twisting 6. suspension by rope 7. slapping the face 8. knee torture 9. ankle torture 10. finger torture 11. lye in the eyes 12. tied to a stake 13. shackled to pole 14. akin to American “stocks” 15. shackled to heavy block 16. caged 17. severing Achilles tendon 18. shackled to bench 19. leading to banishment 20. leading to execution 21. death by strangulation 22. death by decapitation
  According to the text most of these punishments were for specific crimes or groupings of crimes, from swindling to murder. Strangely one included “for wearing pearls”…which even the author could not explain.

• DaveP.

  April 11, 2012 at 2:34 am · Reply

  Chris- could it be similar to the old sumptuary laws, where certain castes weren’t allowed to wear certain cloths/colors/ornaments that had been reserved to the upper castes?