Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 3/Death penalty
III. Death penalty. (死刑) Ssŭ hsing.
Tiao kao lung (吊高櫳), is to hang up in a cage by the neck. The cage has no bottom and stands about ten feet high. The neck is encircled by the top cover of the cage, the head being outside. Death comes very soon, and it is reckoned a light penalty because the body is not mutilated. Any district magistrate may use this method of execution and also Yung k‘ou chia (擁口枷), or the clasp-throat cangue. This is a heavy oak pillory and is over 100 catties in weight. The neck is clasped tight and the frame is so large that food cannot be conveyed to the mouth; the criminal soon collapses and, with the fall, the neck is generally broken.
Death by strangling is called chiao hsing (絞刑). Three posts are fixed into the ground. To the centre one the criminal is tied, a rope with a running noose is put round his neck, and then one man pulls at each end of the rope, two strong pulls; the rope is then fastened to the side posts; then the doomed man gets a heavy kick in the abdomen and the breath is driven from his body by the rectum. This is most frequently administered to soldiers for breach of military laws.
To cut off the head of a person worthy of death after death has come from other causes, or to cut the corpse limb from limb, is called, chua shih (抓屍).
In the punishment called ch‘êng kan ch‘êng jen (秤桿秤人), to weigh a man on the scales, huge iron clamps are driven into the ribs on both sides of the backbone and a rope is attached. The unfortunate man is then raised over a cross beam to the height of about 8 or 10 feet from the ground, where he hangs suspended face downwards, and may live for two or three days.
The family of a rebel, whether official or civilian, is exterminated and his goods are confiscated. This is called wa kên tuan miao (挖根斷苗), or chu tsu (誅族).
Another punishment is to nail the living door god, ting huo mên-shên (釘活門神), that is, crucifixion. The criminal's hands and feet are nailed to a door or cross. The nails are made red-hot and driven through the palms of the hands and the front of the foot. Hot nails are used to staunch the bleeding. A hole is made through the back of the cross through which the queue is put to keep up the head. Sometimes the head is held up by nailing the skin on either side of the neck. The wretch may live two or three days unless he can bribe the yamen runners, through his friends, to give him a dose of opium. He is raised so high that a large crowd of people can stare at him. This punishment can be inflicted without reference to a superior officer, as it does not mutilate the body.
Ling ch‘ih sui kua (凌遲碎剮), to hack in pieces. This punishment was, prior to the Revolution, inflicted on both men and women, usually for the murder of a parent or a husband. The criminal was tied to a stake at the crossing of two streets or on the execution ground; first the skin of the brow was cut and pulled over the eyes; then the nose, lips, ears, hands, arms, were taken from the body, then the sword pierced through the heart and the body was hewn in pieces. Formerly the flesh was roasted and the fat used to light the four gates of the city, the flesh and the bones cremated and the ashes scattered to the four winds. This punishment required the sanction of a senior officer, as it mutilated the body.
Beheading, ta p‘i (大辟), is the utmost penalty of the law and the one most dreaded by the Chinese, who all shrink from the idea of becoming a headless ghost. To such an extent is this feared that a head is often sewn on immediately after execution unless it has to be exposed in the person's native village, hsiao shou (梟首). The executioner is sometimes bribed to leave a part of the neck unsevered. All such punishments must be sanctioned by the superior officers before they can be carried out. Therefore the whole case has to go through a great many different phases before the execution can take place. Such are as follows:
K‘ao wen (考問), to investigate the case and obtain the person's own confession of guilt. Unfortunately this is very often got by torture. After the magistrate has obtained what he thinks sufficient evidence he must notify his superior officer, hsiang ping (詳稟), by an official dispatch, giving all details, after which the superior officer sends a deputy to investigate the confession, ch‘ing k‘ou kung (清口供). Much depends upon this man; if not well treated by the district magistrate he might get him into trouble by reporting unfavorably of his judgment. After the criminal has acknowledged his guilt (落供), lo kung, he has to dip his thumb in ink and make an impression on the official document.
The criminals hold a feast, fen li chiu (分離酒), just before midwinter, which is the general time for executions as at this season the death principle reigns throughout nature. This is a farewell feast to those about to die.
Shang chüeh liao skou chou (上脚鐐手肘) is to put in fetters, hands and feet. As soon as the deputy his confirmed the district magistrate's sentence of death the criminal is chained, hands and feet.
The warrant of death is an official dispatch through which a nail is driven and bent, ting fèng (釘封), and sealed. There is also a black tablet sent along with the warrant, which is carried into the gaol when the prisoners are taken out. This is called the hei p‘ai (黑牌). Whenever the warrant arrives the yamen runners make a raid on the rope-makers for ropes to bind the prisoners, paying nothing; for days before an execution the rope-dealers display few, if any ropes, for fear they will be seized.
When the warrant arrives the official orders wine and food to be set before the doomed men. Sometimes abundance of wine and pork is supplied, at others, only a limited amount. Some drink themselves quite drunk and others only reach the tipsy stage.
Then the hands are bound behind the back and ropes put on the neck, and the tallies are stuck in the band of the criminal's lower garment at the back. These tallies are strips of bamboo a few feet in length and a few inches wide, on which are written the doomed man's name and crime. The characters are written with ink which has been mixed with tea. No teacher likes to use tea in mixing his ink as it is reckoned unlucky.
The fetters are knocked from the hands and feet. This is done by a blacksmith in the roughest way.
The assistant executioner, t‘i shou (替手), holds the sword in front of the doomed man's face while the real executioner stands at the back to do his work.
The kuei tzŭ shou (劊子手), or executioner, belongs to the military yamen. His pay used to be 800 cash per head.
It is the duty of the military official, whose men do the work of execution, to witness it, chien chan (監斬).
The district magistrate goes to the temple, burns incense and makes a declaration to the city god that he has not had these men beheaded for any personal spite or selfish ends, but simply because of their own evil deeds. Returning to his yamen, a heap of straw with crackers is set fire to at the entrance, through which he is carried at a furious pace, kuo huo yen shan (過火焰山) (passing the flame-hill), for fear any of the disembodied spirits of the men should have followed him. Many of these men vow before death that after death their chief work will be to kill the official. Hence these past months, during the rebellion, it was said that the soldiers of Hades were moving to help them, yin ping tung liao (陰兵動了). The people burned straw sandals by the thousand as an offering to these spirits.
After the executions are over the yamen runners arm themselves with clubs and go round and round the yamen, p‘an ya (盤衙), and enter the official's private quarters, flourishing these clubs to drive away the evil spirits. They make their obeisance to the official, who in turn gives them a present.
Those remaining in gaol after the midwinter executions, as most probably they may live another year, have a feast together, t‘uan yüan chiu (團圓酒). If only one person should be left in the government prison, he may be strangled in prison, chien hou chiao (監候絞).