The history of any state goes through a certain period, characterized by special cruelty. It was aimed at criminals and simply disenfranchised citizens. Medieval instruments of torture shock everyone who comes to look at them in museums, regardless of whether it is a man or a woman.
China in this sense was no exception. The variety and sophistication of torture used in this state caused terror attacks even among the most experienced warriors. Interestingly, when the torture was carried out in the squares, in order to warn everyone else about the consequences of the crimes, a huge number of onlookers gathered to “stare” at the torment and death of a person. In this case, it becomes clear where in the minds of the Chinese executioners such terrible pictures of the bullying and deaths of criminals arose: the majority of the population of that time, especially the common people, were prone to causeless violence and curiosity for the suffering of others.
History
Ever since the time when the Qin dynasty ruled in the Celestial Empire, Chinese torture was considered the traditional way to punish a person for a crime. The code of the ruling dynasty totaled at least four thousand crimes that deserved punishment.
Some were punished by beating with light or heavy bamboo sticks, exile, or hard labor. However, those whose crimes were, to use modern terminology, were of light gravity. Those who were sentenced to death, before death experienced the worst torment from torture. And these tortures were so cruel that even now they cause trembling in the body.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, in the understanding of the Chinese rulers and judges there was no clear idea of what the presumption of innocence and the prosecution were. That is why the confessions that a person gave under torture were considered irrefutable evidence of guilt. In addition, not only criminals, but also witnesses of their crimes were subjected to ancient Chinese torture. The Chinese executioners simply did not take into account the fact that a person could slander himself, so long as his torment ceased.
Who was tortured?
In ancient times, torturing or killing a person was almost commonplace. As in most ancient countries, the Middle Kingdom invented its proprietary methods of Chinese torture and executions. They were so common because fines or imprisonment were not considered a worthy punishment. And any criminal could be tortured: a thief, a murderer, a liar, a spy, a blasphemer, women who gave birth outside of marriage, men of a non-traditional orientation, the one who cheated on his spouse or just a person who is objectionable to the government.
Ancient China: Varieties of Torture
The variety of ancient Chinese tortures amazes modern people. The cruelty and composure with which the executioner did his job excites the minds to this day. The tortures in the Celestial Empire were not just a way to “knock out” a confession from a criminal, but over time it turned into art. Otherwise, how can we explain the ingenuity with which judges and executioners came up with punishments for their victims?
It is not possible to list all the many options for Chinese torture of antiquity, however, here are some of them:
- Clasped feet in steel sandals.
- Squeezed knees with a special vice.
- They beat them with bamboo sticks on eggs.
- They pierced the nails on the arms and legs with thin bamboo sticks.
- They put the criminal on the so-called tiger bench: they tied him to the back of the bench and stretched his legs in different directions.
- They put it on a block bed. Several tortured were placed on one narrow bunk so that they could not move and pressed on top with a wooden lid.
- They crushed the bones of the fingers with a special vice.
- Red-hot steel shoes were put on the feet of the guilty person.
- The iron hoop was tightly tightened on the head of the criminal and gradually clamped even harder.
- They put their bare knees on metal chains.
- With a sharp knife they cut out the patella.
- As the top penalty - they branded the face and cut off the nose.
- As a lower penalty, they were castrated.
- Thrown into the water with eels.
And this is only a small fraction of what the justice of ancient China was capable of.
Usually, all tortures took place in special rooms. The Chinese torture chamber was a cold, damp room with no windows or lighting. Lamps or candles were brought there only during torture, the rest of the time the criminal was in complete darkness. Often, the prisoners there died from hypothermia.
The worst Chinese tortures include:
- Torture with water.
- Torture with water drops.
- Torture using bamboo.
- Torture boiled meat.
- Torture with scolopendra.
Water as a means of torture
The tradition of using water torture is rooted in the Middle Ages. Therefore, despite the fact that one of its most popular options is called "Chinese water torture", it was not the Chinese executioners who came up with it at all.
In ancient times, Chinese torture using water was one of the most cruel. Torture museums around the world put on display, at first glance seeming unpresentable and boring, a tool of water torture. It is a funnel made of copper or wood, which is covered with leather. Against the background of the instruments of torture surrounding her (for example, collars with spikes bent inward, chopping blocks with jigs), this funnel looks, at least, harmless.
However, taking a closer look, on its basis you can distinguish a huge number of clear dents. They remained from the teeth of criminals, who were subjected to this kind of torture, which was considered tidy, humane and not violating decency. It is for these alleged qualities that Chinese torture with water was often used as a punishment for women, since for this they did not need to be undressed or dismembered.
How did she act?
The essence of Chinese water torture was that the victim was tied with his back to a bench or bunk. Her head was raised, the narrow edge of the funnel was forced into the throat and poured water there. There was a lot of water. In addition to the fact that the tortured person felt suffocation and pain in the stomach from the fact that he was bursting with a poured liquid, this torture could last very long. Gradually, the victim waned, her mind clouded over, and complete humility and suppleness appeared.
In addition to the traditional version, this Chinese torture had alternatives. One of them was an injection of water not into the throat, but into the nose. In this case, the person either immediately confessed everything (what he did and did not do), or choked.
Is a drop of water really scary?
In the cinema of the twentieth century there was a stereotype that running (or walking) in the rain is a lot of fun. Perhaps it is, but only if after that you go into a warm house in which firewood is cracking in the fireplace. In all other cases, it is not particularly welcome that water drips onto the head for a long time. And in eastern countries, torture with dripping water was considered one of the most effective.
At first glance, the ancient Chinese torture with a drop of water seems quite harmless. Well, what is it that drops fall on a person? It seems okay, but the executioners used the Chinese torture with a drop of enviable regularity, since its result was stunning and, importantly, effective.
How did the bullying go?
The Chinese torture procedure began with a drop in that the offender was firmly tied either to a chair or to a bed so that he could not move and, more importantly, itch. In the case of a chair, the victim was still thrown back and also fixed it in a motionless state. A flask or some other vessel with water, in which there was a very small hole, was suspended above his head. From it constantly (without interruptions) dripped water on the forehead of the victim.
The first impression of such Chinese torture is a strange and harmless procedure. However, in fact, drops constantly dripping onto the forehead are one of the worst forms of psychological torture. The bottom line is that after prolonged exposure to the victim’s forehead with drops of water, she begins to experience nervous tension and, as a result, a mental disorder. The reason for this is that the victim has a feeling that falling at the same point on the forehead, the drop forms a notch at the place of the fall.
It is the psychological component of Chinese torture by a drop that affects its effectiveness and the positive result of interrogation of criminals in ancient China.
China: Bamboo Torture Connection
The first place among the most cruel tortures used in the Middle Kingdom is rightfully occupied by the Chinese torture with bamboo and water, which is gradually being executed. This terrible procedure is notorious in all corners of the world. However, there is an opinion that this is just one of the local terrifying legends, since not a single documentary evidence that such Chinese torture existed and was used has survived to our time.
Many have heard of bamboo as one of the plants with fast growth. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow almost a meter in just one day.
Among historians, it is believed that the deadly Chinese torture of bamboo was used not only by the Chinese of antiquity, but also by the Japanese military during the Second World War.
How did the torture happen?
This torture was carried out on people whose crimes, according to the judges, were very serious (espionage, high treason, murder of high-ranking officials).
Before starting the torture, a bed of young bamboo was sharpened with a knife so that the stems would be sharp as spears. After that, the victim was hung over the bed in a horizontal position, so that the pointed bamboo shoots were either under the stomach or under the back. Bamboo was well watered for rapid growth and waited.
Since the sprouts of bamboo, especially young, grow at an incredible speed, soon sharp shoots pierced the body of the criminal, causing terrible torment to the victim. As it grew, bamboo sprouted through the peritoneum and killed a person. Such a death was very long and painful.
Food torture
According to the rules of a healthy diet, it is preferable to eat boiled meat, and it is recommended to refuse roasted meat altogether. However, even boiled meat should not be overeating. Chinese criminals would also agree with this, who knew from their own experience the consequences of such a diet.
Boiled meat was most often tried by thieves who encroached on products sold in street shops: vegetables, fruits, rice.
In addition to the Chinese torture of boiled meat, there was another, no less sophisticated, torture. A condemned to death was regularly fed with rice and given clean water. However, it was not completely welded, but only half. That is, the offender ate a full stomach of half-moist rice and washed it all down with water. As a result, his stomach swelled up from the rice swollen in him, and his intestines and stomach simply burst, causing the criminal unbearable pain. The result was profuse internal bleeding and a long, painful death.
Process
Chinese meat torture could go on for a month. Throughout this time, the victim suffered greatly.
The criminal was locked in a narrow and low cell. In it, he could only be in a sitting or lying position, cowering. He was given clean water for drinking. They fed the criminal well-cooked meat, in which there were no veins, bones and fat. A month later, a dead body was found in the cage.
According to Chinese judicial directories, the effectiveness of this torture directly depends on the ethnic group of the convicted person. The reason for this is the nutritional characteristics of various peoples. Since the Chinese often ate food of plant origin, such a change in diet was very noticeable for them and, in the end, led to death. But the Mongols or the Huns, accustomed to eating exclusively meat in the morning at lunch and in the evening, such torture would even be to their liking.
According to modern doctors, there may be several reasons for the victim dying in the process of such torture. First of all, the fault may be insufficient production of enzymes that promote the digestion of food of animal origin. The result of poor digestion will be a malfunction in the functioning of the whole organism. The second reason, perhaps, was immobilized stay in the cell for a long time. As you know, to digest heavy food, a person needs to move so that there is no stagnation in the intestine. In addition, a sedentary lifestyle and eating meat can lead to the accumulation of nitrogenous products in the blood. As a result, tachycardia, swelling and other pathologies of the body that can lead to death of a person.
Insects in the service of executioners
Another way to “torture” a convict was a Chinese torture with a centipede in his ear. So, often, they mocked criminals who were accused of espionage. Like torture with water droplets, this torture had a significant effect on a person’s mental state, since an insect moving in the ear canal made the victim nervous and increased anxiety. And if you take into account the fact that its claws connect with poisonous glands, the presence of an insect in the ear also causes severe pain. Just running through the body, the scolopendra leaves a trail of burning mucus behind it. What can we say about the place where she will feel uncomfortable.
For this sophisticated mockery of man, the executioners always had a couple of red Chinese scolopendra hidden, which practically did not feed, so that the insect always remained aggressive and hungry. According to the first order, the executioner took out a centipede from the box, which, feeling freedom, began to behave actively, and once again fell into the confined space of the ear canal, was furious.
Insect torture
The goal of Chinese torture with a red-haired scolopendra in the ear is the complete psychological exhaustion of the victim, in which she agrees to just stop the torture.
Preparation for torture involves the complete immobilization of a person by tying him to a bed or bed. The head is also fixed so that the offender could not shake the centipede out of his ear. After the executioner sticks a scolopendra into the victim’s ear hole. By irritating the receptors in the ear, the insect can cause bouts of nausea and vomiting, as well as dizziness. This causes considerable discomfort to the victim and increases his level of anxiety.
Since the centipede loses its sense of orientation while in the ear canal, it begins to behave uneasily and may knock on the eardrum. In some cases, if she behaved calmly and did not move, the executioner deliberately bothered and annoyed her so that she began to show aggression. As a result of such actions, she often gnawed at the eardrum and continued her journey through the ear canals, making her way deeper into the head. At the same time, the victim felt terrible pains, her mind clouded over and, if she remained alive for some time, she went crazy.
Torture of women
Despite the brutality of Chinese torture, they were often used to harass women. The rulers of ancient China did not see the difference between criminals and criminals. This is not surprising, since some women were not inferior to men in the gravity of their crimes. They robbed, spied, sometimes killed, but most often women were tortured and executed for their infidelity to their husbands.
The Chinese torture of women was also peculiar, and the executioners were particularly inventive.
However, torturing and killing the fairer sex could simply be done for nothing. For example, a case is known when two cooks were subjected to monstrous execution at the court of the rulers of the Ming dynasty. And their fault was that the rice that they served at the table of the nobles "was not as white as the wisdom of their master." Such an “omission” made while working for the rulers of the Celestial Empire cost the cooks of life. They were stripped and hung by the hands on the rings, and just below the pelvis, between the legs, fixed sharp saws. Convicts unable to hang on bent hands for a long time (in order not to touch the saw, they had to pull themselves up), began to lower themselves little by little onto the blade. However, unable to sit motionless on a sharp saw, women began to fidget and wriggle, not realizing that they were causing themselves even greater pain. Thus, the victims gradually sawed themselves to the chest and died. Often, metal saws were replaced with bamboo, as the latter brought more pain.
There were times when, instead of cutting a woman herself, she was put on a so-called “horse”. This instrument of torture was a triangular log on legs. The top of the triangle was the place on which the woman was planted, having previously provided the seat with sharp spikes. Thus, feeling inconvenience and pain, the woman fidgeted and cut her genitals.
The same fate befell the servant at the emperor’s court, who “dared to complain of bad weather and thereby ruined the mood of her masters”.
A woman who committed a serious crime landed on a pyramid. The offender was stripped and forced to sit on the edge of a metal pyramid, standing on a chair or some bench. At the same time, she did not just sit down, but first spread her legs so that the top of the pyramid fell exactly into the genitals. If a woman did not confess to the crime, the executioner forcibly put her on the pyramid to the very end, thereby tearing it. After that, the victim most often died of blood loss or pain shock.
Wives who cheated on their husbands or gave birth to a child out of wedlock were often planted on a bamboo stake. This was done in the square so that every woman could see what the end was waiting for her if she decided to "go left."
Another very terrible punishment for unfaithful wives was a mockery in which snakes were used. The essence of this execution was that the woman was laid on a flat surface and tied so that she could not move. After that, milk was poured into her genitals. And, as the conclusion of the preparation, they threw a snake under her feet. Feeling the smell of milk, the snake crawled into the woman inside, causing unbearable pain. As a result of this torture, the victim died.
Prohibition of torture
The young and old were subjected to the terrible tortures that were used in ancient China, despite their gender and status in society. Despite the fact that they tortured criminals in antiquity in almost all countries of the world, Chinese torture was considered the most sophisticated and cruel, before which even the most experienced European military and executioners trembled.
The use of such terrible, and even brutal, tortures at present, the Chinese authorities did not practice. However, knocking out confessions of criminals with the help of cold, hunger or beatings was carried out in the 21st century. And only on November 21, 2013, the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China announced a statement in which a call was made to all judicial instances. It dealt with the exclusion of evidence and evidence obtained by torture and exhaustion of the defendants. Torture and coercion under the influence of low temperature, hunger and fatigue have become banned at the state level. It would seem that this is so, for granted, however, in Chinese prisons and temporary detention centers they did not disdain to beat and mock criminals only some five years ago.