132 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



witness the necessity for speaking the 

 truth. Shocking as the application of 

 the lash is thought to be in England, 

 the Chinese method of flogging is more 

 painful, if not more debasing. The 

 witness is laid flat on his face, and 

 the executioner delivers his blows on 

 the upper part of the thighs with the 

 concave side of a split bamboo. When 

 the strokes are heavy, the flesh rises in 

 ridges in the hollow part of the cane, 

 and the sharp edges cut the victim 

 terribly. This punishment is not limited 

 to a fixed number of blows. The sufferer 

 may release himself by giving the 

 evidence required, or the flogging is 

 continued until he becomes insensible. 

 Many other kinds of torture are resorted 

 to. The Chinese display a horrible inge- 

 nuity in producing the greatest possible 

 suffering with the most apparently simple 

 means. 



For example, one of the ordinary 

 punishments in China is compulsory 

 kneeling, bare-legged, on a coiled chain. 

 This does not sound shocking, and it 

 might be supposed that it could hardly 

 inconvenience people so little sensible to 

 pain as the hardier Chinese are known 

 to be. But the agony that is caused 

 by this punishment is indescribable, 

 especially as two officers stand by the 

 sufferer to prevent him from seeking 

 even a momentary relief by changing 

 his position. Broken crockery is some- 

 times substituted for the chain, but those who have experienced the punishment find one 

 material as cruel as the other. 



A common punishment in China is that of the cangue, a sort of movable pillory. It is 

 a collar formed of a piece of wood, four feet square and nearly four inches in thickness. It has 

 a hole formed in the middle, through which the culprit's head is passed. The machine opens 

 with a hinge. When closed around the culprit's neck, it is locked, and a placard, describing 

 the offence for which he suffers, is always pasted on it. As long as the cangue is worn the 

 delinquent cannot feed himself, so that he would soon expiate his offences by death from 

 starvation if he were not kept alive by occasional scraps tendered by good-natured people. 

 Indeed, little risk of actual starvation is run, for it is popularly thought a becoming and 

 meritorious action to feed a prisoner in the cangue. The principal terror of this instrument is 

 the pain caused by continuously carrying so much dead weight upon the neck and shoulders. 



There is another mode of punishment in which the cangue is used, but in this case the 

 collar is fixed and does not rest on the shoulders. A tall cage is constructed, the top of 

 which is flat and thick, with a hole in the centre, through which a man's head may be 

 thrust. The top of the cage is so adjusted in height from the bottom that the sufferer is 

 forced to stand on tiptoe to avoid supporting the weight of his body by his jaws, under 



Photo by Mr. Afong] 



A CHINESE NURSE AND CHILD. 



[Hong-kong. 



