TORTURE OF CRIMINALS IN CHINA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1912, 7 October 1884, Page 3

TORTURE OF CRIMINALS IN CHINA.

Chinese punishments aie beveie, and in many cases inhuman. These cruelties were even gieater before the formation of a wntten code, which prevented tyrants from exeicising their ingenuity in devising methods of punishment at their own fiee will. The most common instrument of purishnn>nt is tho bamboo lod, the thickness ntid number of blows, of which aie nicely yi ad uated according to the hcinousness of the offence to be expiated. Tn .ill cases it is, however, a painful (Mitigation, unless the executioner has been bnbt'd to lay on his blows in such a m inner as to make a great sound but inflict lil.tle execution. The lcea 01 cangue is the next foi in of punishment. This coum 4s in fastening a wooden collai lound the \ietnn in such i inannei that it shuts oil" .ill communication between the nppei and lm\ er poi hons of his body, and as he cannot get Ins hands up to his mouth he has to be fed by otheis. It is often worn for two 01 thice months tocrethei. Eveiv morning the \ictnn is taken to a public place .nd exposed to the gaze of the woild, and at night is led back foi socuuty to puson. i\oLlniic; is moie common in a Chinese town than to sp« these individuals, with these wooden millstones about then neck, being fed b> then cliildu-n, wnes, 01 other lei itives, and e\en by sti.mgeis ; foi it is accounted a meutoi ion-, act to feed a prisoner m the caiignc. In each case of punishment the name of the crime for which it is inflicted is fastened on a placnid m a prominent pi ice about the cinninal s pci-on. Foi a good huinouied race the Chinese aie \eiy ciuel, not only to pi'soneis taken in wai, but to ollendeis ag.mist the law. Among the other methods of punishment foi minoi offences may be mentioned — kneeling on a coiled chain, or on biokcn eiockcry with the baio knees for houis at a time, without to'ing once allowed to change the position: and ankle squeezing and fmgeisqueezing, between fom pieces of bamboo so an uiged tint by piilliuu a stiing pissed tin ough one end of them, tiny can be so tiijhtly con.piessed is almost to ciush the unfoi tun.ite limb in then cmbiace. With the 1 iscally mandaiaius this is a f.ivoinite method ot toituie when they wish to extiaef. mon^y fiom any peison whom tliey sn-| Let of concealing tie.ijiue ; m othei woids, when they wish oithei to ' squeeze" the popul ition foi then own behoof, in on the put of the <toy eminent, which ipquiifs a ceilam sum of nionev to Ik> m ifln up bv the itiandaiin who coutiols o\eiy dislnct oi depnitinenfc. The mfoiioi mandann-,, though they cannot inflict the punishment of deith, >et exeici c the utmost ingenuity in inflicting the gi rites t amount of toi tin e compatible with fulfilling the let Mot the law, and eu-u of cwntuall} ending the culput's life Foi instance, a mm was caught stealing at a fne — a \eiy heinous offence. Ho was confined in a Kind of upnght cige, tied by his pigtail to the roof m such a manner that Ins feet could baicly touch the giound. In this guise he v. as expo-ed to public gaze until exhaustion funn pain, want of sleep, food and dunk — foi no one was allowed to have access to him — tcimniated his life. Another not uncommon method of toituie is to confine the eiimin.il m an uplift cage of this descuption, but with his head piotiudintr tlnough a hole in the I'd oi i oof, his toes lust touching, the floor uvl his hands tied behind him; so th.it .f the pool wictih wishes foi a moment to icst himself, he must do so In c in-inc,' the w hole weight of his body to be u upon his nuclei i iv >, at the n k ol almost U uint; his head iiom his bcidv. 1> inisinnent. foi mild ofiences, ton distance not o\ei f i f fc> leajues fiom the ofti ndei's home, oi m the cist; of moie «eveie olTonces, to beyond tlio Chinese fiontit'i eithei tempoi mly oi foi life, is a punishment aw tii (led tin ciimcs nioin sewie than those for which beating with the b imboo oi confinement in the cangue is coiisideied .1 sulhcient expiation. Taitais aie beaten with a whip nibtoad of a bamboo, and in most cjscs aie ])umshed with si canguc instead of banishment. Theie aie tin ee grades of capital punishnient : Ist, stiangulation ; 2nd, decapita turn, which is much feued, fiom the ulei that ii pel .on goes into the next woild in the same state in which he left this one; and 3id, for hemoM'-i tiirncs such as ticason, painude, saci liege, etc , the punishment which the J'jiiiope.ins somew hat mci iicctly st\le cutting into ten thousand piece*. This eonsi ts m tho ]»» t )siinei h.uinq Ins face and oth( l paitsof the body so slashed befoie the final blow isstiuck, th't he empties not only headless, hut, with his skeleton paitialh dnested of flesh. Ciucifixion and sawing asundei aie two of the othei honible modes b\ which Liinuu.ils me executed, and. stiange to say, the foi mci means, with all its loner, lingnin;, toituie, is often inefeiicd u> rl^Miiitation, simply because the oi untied man s;m^ h\- bij.ul, in vlnoh he is anxious to fi»"H» befoie his anc^stois in the next woild' Jn all these ininish meiits a nch man can usually obtain a .substitute ; the c;icat dilhtulty being, not m bnviiit, a liian to take the leal cumiual's pl.up, but sini]))y to l.i ihe all tl)e ofh.t i ijs wliostj business it is to see the sentence earned into execution; or, indeed, piuitaiily, tl.p one who has to pionouncc it. ('huiiM! pnsons ,uo teiulily so\cie in then di.i-'phne, so that to a\oid these Tyo-yo, or hells, sis tliuv Ol'P populaily called, for long teinis, death is fiequenfly i)mfoned.