Looking back at the past, China has a long history and various punishment systems emerge one after another. According to some records, China's criminal law has a history of more than 4,000 years and has gradually improved in the pre-Qin period and has become a tool for rulers to rule the world.
As for how to punish illegal people, officials can be said to be "innovating" and rack their brains to find new tricks. Many "ruthless officials" have emerged, including Zhu Yuanzhang twelfth.
Many people's understanding of torture may only exist in TV series or movies. For example, a movie in Hong Kong more than 20 years ago was called the Top Ten Tortures of the Qing Dynasty. Some of the images in this movie left a deep impression on many people. The various screams in
made many people look at the punishment with admiration and know the cruelty in it. It is worth mentioning that among the many punishments in our country, there is a punishment called "gentleness", which is punished with animal organs.
Although it sounds like the word "gentle", this process makes many people suffer, especially rich dignitaries and nobles. So, what kind of punishment is this? Let’s talk about it today.
All kinds of ancient penalties
Ancient criminal laws have existed since primitive society, but serve different agencies in different historical periods, so they also have different characteristics in different periods. Judging from its development characteristics, it shows a trend of "barbaric, backward, cruel, civilized, and cautious punishment".
For example, in primitive society, torture was very cruel. In a slave society, although the criminal law has a certain system, it is still "barbaric" and "cruel". Shang Dynasty Most society retained the primitive tribes’ custom of cannibalizing people. By the week, "kill" gradually replaced "cooking" and became the mainstream of the death penalty.
my country has been implementing waist cutting since the Spring and Autumn Period. In fact, the emergence of waist cutting is actually an advancement of criminal civilization, and so is dismantling a car. It means tying the head and limbs of a person on five cars, putting a horse on it, pulling it in different directions, and tearing the person's body into six pieces, so it is called a car break.
Sometimes when executing this punishment, five cows or five horses are directly replaced by cars, so car corpses are commonly known as five cows or five horses are dismembered. The evolution of these cruel punishments has also witnessed the step-by-step evolution of social forms.
In addition to the above-mentioned halving, dismemberment (i.e., dismemberment of five horses), there were many punishments such as peeling, chopping into eight pieces, strangling (i.e., hanging ), inviting you into a jar (i.e., cooking), castration, being beaten, castration, amputation, and burying alive. It can be said that there are countless methods. Most of the punishments above
are directed at men (also including women) and a family. So what are the punishments for women? There are many related means and measures, which indirectly reflect the low status of ancient women.
Punishment on women
As we all know, ancient women valued "chastity", especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties, they regarded , three obediences, four virtues, as the standard for women. So one of the punishments they fear is to let their bodies appear in public places in broad daylight.
This kind of punishment may not require physical pain, but for women, it is spiritual destruction. Without chastity, women will be abandoned by their families and may even die in despair.
At the same time, in addition to the above punishment, the following punishment will make ancient women shudder and discourage them. According to some records, since the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the punishment for female prisoners has been particularly severe, such as the famous " Five Penalties " in history, which is as follows:
One is Xingchun, which is a punishment used for women in ancient times. After being physically punished by Shu, Jing and others, they will be escorted to the government or the military camps on the border and will be employed in selenium valleys, springs and other places.
Asphyxiation was also a torture committed by ancient rulers on female prisoners. This punishment is mainly the punishment of pinching the prisoner's fingers, so it is also called whipping. During the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, it was mainly used for torture and forced confessions, involving ninth-rank sesame officials.
flogging is also one of the five punishments since Sui and Tang . Some changes have taken place in the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. For example, if a woman commits rape, she must "take off her clothes and get a stick", which will not only cause skin and flesh pain, but also mental torture.
In ancient times, sinners with special status were sentenced to death, such as poisoned wine, swords, ropes, etc. Judging from the results, although death is cruel, from the process, it is a relatively direct means without much torture.
Clauquetism is also a punishment, just like the eunuch's "castration". This system began in the Qin and Han dynasties. It was roughly a slamming woman's abdomen with a wooden stick, causing uterine prolapse, which was a torture for adulterers.
From the above summary, it is not difficult to see that in ancient China, the punishment for women was more mainly corporal punishment, and shame was also involved. However, these punishments, although cruel, are almost worth mentioning compared to the following "moderate" punishments.
"Mental" punishment makes people even more frightened.
This "gentle" punishment is completely different from the previous one. It does not beat or scold it, it does not have to be tortured by its flesh and blood body, it is well controlled, and it can even be said to be in danger of life. However, this seemingly civilized punishment makes people even more scary.
It uses animal organs to make life worse than death and suffers torture. Judging from its characteristics, it may be tailor-made for wealthy dignitaries, aiming to teach them a lesson and make them afraid. This kind of punishment is "laughing punishment".
号号 was invented by Europeans in the 17th century. At the beginning, it was mainly targeted at some nobles, but later some changes occurred. In early Europe, there were constant wars. It was popular to exchange prisoners at that time, and some prisoners would have a lot of useful information.
So in order to obtain information from the prisoners without causing too obvious harm to the prisoners, thus affecting the subsequent prisoner exchange, the Europeans invented this joke.
Why is laughing torture the mildest torture? In fact, laughing torture is as cruel as torture. Because it caused great torture to the prisoner during the torture process.
When performing a laughing sentence, the prisoner will be tied to a stool, and the interrogator will apply some honey, sugar and other substances to the soles of the prisoner's feet. The executor then pulls out a goat and licks the substance on the soles of the prisoner's feet.
salt is trace element for goats, and it is also a must-use in feed, which is very attractive to them. Goats are herbivores. Although their tongues are soft, there are some small grooves in the middle, covered with small barbs.
As we all know, there are many acupoint nerves in the footsteps of the human body, which usually have no effect, but when a goat licks it, it will form a strong stimulation, which will make the prisoner laugh. If the substance on the feet is licked and the prisoner has not confessed, the executor will continue to apply, and so on.
Generally speaking, prisoners can still resist in the first three minutes because the physiological reaction of the human body is not very strong. However, three minutes later, many people confessed because they could not resist the torture of laughter. Of course, some people will keep their mouths tight, but these people have not had a good result.
Because, after about three minutes, their faces will be severely distorted and eventually die of heart failure. Many prisoners suffered from flesh and blood, but could not resist the torture brought by laughter. Therefore, laughter was called the most "gentle" torture in ancient times.
Simply put, "laughing punishment" brings double torture to the prisoner, both physical and psychological. Occasionally laughing is good for the body, but long-term laughing can be life-threatening because the air in the lungs will become less and less, and it is easy to die of hypoxia.
From Biology , some nerves in the "soles of the feet" will arouse strong physiological reactions and will be unbearable for a long time, so don't underestimate this punishment. The seemingly simple "laughing punishment" is actually more terrifying than the Lunar New Year.
Of course, if controlled well, in order to form a deterrence, it is more appropriate to give the nobles a lesson. Nowadays, with the progress of society, the punishment system is gradually being improved.
It pays more attention to the protection of people's equality and rights, and the punishment for physical abuse has been basically abolished.
