Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States , with the collapse of the Zhou Dynasty feudal system, the heroes have emerged together, wars have continued, the collapse of etiquette, and the sinking of knowledge have led to the sudden rise of the gentry and become the center of exchange of ideas. .
Hundreds of schools of thought emerged in endlessly. During the collision of ideas, Confucianism , Legalism , Politicians flourished during this period, and among them Legalism was the same as Confucianism, and their philosophical thoughts were profound. embedded in the Chinese nation.
Legalism advocates the rule of law. The law determines rewards and punishments, which prevents the abuse of human rights. In order to frighten the people and enforce strict laws, many severe punishments came into being.
There were many punishments in ancient times. There was a kind of punishment that the ancients considered extremely insulting. It was not painful but was extremely taboo. What is the meaning behind it?
The notorious top ten tortures
Especially the notorious top ten tortures, achieves the purpose of making people fear the criminal law by causing great harm to people's body and mind.
Such as Lingchi, began in the Liao and Jin Dynasties. The punishment of Lingchi required more than 3,000 swords and required the sword to be non-fatal and to keep the prisoner awake. It was often used to commit crimes of rebellion.
As for the punishment of splitting the car, although it has been around since the Zhou Dynasty, it is really impressive that people know and understand it because of its implementation by Shang Yang, the popularizer and practitioner of the legal system. profound.
The punishment of beheading in half began in the Zhou Dynasty and ended in the Qing Dynasty . It basically ran through the entire feudal autocratic period of China. The cruelty of the punishment of being beheaded in half is that after being punished, people still retain consciousness, still feel pain, and suffer The pain just died.
In addition to , there are also punishments of cutting off the feet, scalloping of the knees, and tattooing on the face. There are also skinning, five punishments, cooking, castration, burial alive, etc. Such punishment as the name suggests.
Punishment was established to maintain the ruler's political power and to maintain the stability of social order. These top ten tortures are designed to achieve the purpose of punishment by increasing and prolonging the pain of the criminal.
But there are also some punishments, which take a different approach. As the saying goes, killing does not hurt the heart. Punishment is used to affect the individual's spirit and destroy his social rights and social abilities. In a sense, it is no different from killing a person.
髠狠
When watching some costume dramas, you can often see that both men and women in the drama have long flowing hair, tied up with hairpins and crowns. Many people think this is to increase their beauty.
In fact, this is to respect history. Although growing hair was a daily routine in ancient times, it was a very important thing. There is a saying that has been passed down to this day, The hair of the body is influenced by the parents. This shows that the ancients attached great importance to hair as a routine filial piety. .
Therefore, the emergence of torture is a huge psychological harm to the punished. The execution content of this kind of punishment is to sweep away all the dense hair on the body such as hair and eyebrows.
Standing today, in the eyes of others, this way may even be considered as a kind of personality. In the eyes of many ordinary people, it may just be a little surprising and curious.
But in ancient times, facing this kind of punishment, meant that once you showed up and were seen by others, people would know what crime you had probably committed, as if you had a criminal record.
Since the Zhou Dynasty, there has been a set of feudal etiquette that regulates and restricts all classes from nobles to common people. Although these etiquette and laws have maintained social order to a certain extent, ensured the stability of the people.
But on the other hand, the self-proclaimed etiquette culture is lifeless. Step by step, it is eating away at generations of people, and even to the point where each time period and each identity has its own set of behavioral norms.
Especially in a vast country, under the centralized system , even if county magistrates at all levels are set up, it still cannot be implemented in every household.
Therefore, clan townships in ancient times, to a considerable extent, had no less power than county-level government agencies. When people in the clan committed crimes, they should first be dealt with by the clan according to clan rules.
Only when the case is serious, it will be handed over to the county government or even a higher level for disposal, but even so, it still needs to be reported to the reputable elders of the clan.
In addition, in ancient times, in order to ensure the stability of grain production and ensure that household registration was not lost, no matter where you went, you needed to be cited by government officials. Therefore, Unless you entered the court as an official, an ordinary person would have a fixed circle throughout his life. of.
Therefore, the status of clan relations, village relations, and filial piety at that time was getting higher and higher. Everyone needed to be like the public and be cautious in their words and deeds.
So it is not difficult to see, Once a person is tortured, he will have no choice but to return to his hometown. Since ancient times, it has been believed that the body, hair, and skin are not affected by the parents, but only by the villagers, pointers on unfaithfulness and unfilial piety. Point, even for the rest of his life, he cannot escape.
At that time, the story about Cao Cao using his hair as a head made us wonder why it made us wonder whether it was the non-commissioned officers who were forced by official power or were too loyal and moved to cut off Cao Cao's hair to replace his head. It doesn't seem to be the case. It’s hard to understand.
It is worth noting that not all dynasties and all ethnic groups are as afraid of Kunfa as a tiger, except that in the Jin Dynasty, was introduced to the Central Plains and accepted Buddhism, which required conversion to Kunfa.
There are also many ethnic groups who also have the habit of hair loss, rather than using it as a punishment. For example, the habit of Xiqiang people is to have their hair disheveled or braided.
After the founding of the Xixia dynasty, the Dangxiang tribe issued an order to make Kunfa a national custom, so that everyone in the country must abide by it. It can be seen that Kunfa is a matter of opinion.
The reason why many nomads choose bald hair seems to have geographical factors. Some are out of reverence for nature. In their view, baldness is to gain access to God and understand God's will.
Some are needed for migration and war. Being bald will help them walk more conveniently, reduce the trouble of washing, and can also receive more timely treatment after injury to avoid infection.
Conclusion
Many punishments are used today because of their cruel methods, out of the humanitarian spirit, They have basically disappeared, and only their names are heard but their punishments are not seen.
Despite this, we not only need to see the cruelty of these punishments and resolutely put an end to the emergence of such punishments that increase human suffering, we should also see that the rule of law society has begun to sprout and gradually take shape in ancient times.
And Kun Xing, a punishment that cuts off social attributes, needs to be considered in the era at that time. From Kun Xing, we can not only see the cruelty of punishment, but also get a glimpse of the social order and social order in ancient times. The logic of social behavior.
When dealing with history, we may be less likely to comment on right and wrong from the perspective of today's era. Instead, by understanding the historical background and historical process, try to understand the characters, the thoughts of the ancients, and their logic at the time.
Learn from this, review history, get rid of inherent cause and effect, inherent logical thinking, take the lead in the surging historical trend, and shoulder the responsibility of the times.
