CHINA 



'35 



this, and they shrink with a horror which it is hard for us to conceive from appearing 

 hereafter as armless, legless, or, above all, as headless ghosts. 



The mode of execution requires a few words. The criminal is carried to the place of 

 execution in a bamboo cage, and by his side is a basket in which his head will be removed. 

 He is effectively pinioned. The middle of a long, thin rope is passed round the back of his 

 neck, and the ends are crossed on the chest and brought under the arms. They are then 

 twisted round the arms, the wrists tied together behind the back, and the ends fastened to 

 the portion of rope upon the neck. A slip of paper, containing the culprit's name, crime, and 

 sentence, is fixed to a reed and stuck at the back of his head. On arriving at the place of 

 execution, the officials remove the paper and take it to the presiding mandarin, who writes on it 

 in red ink the warrant for execution. The paper is then replaced, a rope loop is passed over 

 the head of the culprit, and the end given to an assistant, who draws the head forward so as 

 to stretch the neck, while a second assistant holds the body from behind. In a moment the 

 executioner wields his broad, heavy sword, sweeps it down in one deadly, unerring stroke, and 

 the head is removed from the body. It is taken away, and generally hung up in a bamboo 

 cage near the scene of the crime for which the death-penalty was inflicted, with a label 

 announcing the name and offence of the criminal, and also the name of the presiding mandarin 

 by whose order he was executed. 



A Chinese wife is extremely anxious to present her husband with sons, who will perpetuate 

 his name and burn incense before his tablet after death. Female children are of so little 

 account that when a baby-girl is born it is often made away with. A childless woman 

 sometimes, however, adopts a girl from another family, believing that this course will make 



Photo by Mr. Afonff] 



[Hong-kong. 



A CHINESE FAMILY GROUP OF THREE GENERATIONS. 



