“Executions in the heavenly empire”
“Chinese justice differs, as you know, by many oddities. But special cruelty and true barbarism is characterized by the Chinese punishment under criminal law …
In the first figure, a man is depicted a man extended to his full height and attached motionlessly with his hands, legs and hair. Two executioners cut him in length as a punishment for the murder of a relative …
The second drawing depicts punishment for indignation. Some mandarin is slowly crushed between the iron millstones attached horizontally and driven two executioners in motion. Everywhere, around these wheels, hungry dogs jump, adding the current blood of the convicted and swallowing pieces of his meat …
The third figure depicts execution by means of barrel. The robber had to climb into the overturned barrel for a whole month, in the upper part of which there was a hole for the head, and on the sides – two hand holes. These three holes were so small that the convict was barely able to move his head and hands in them. The barrel was not high enough so that he could stand in it, neither low enough, in order to sit in it. This unfortunate was not able to feed himself. The wife had to feed him from her hands. She stood at the barrel itself and, taking out a little rice and meat from the basket, brought them to sticks in her mouth … ”
(“Illustrated Week”, April 28, 1874)
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