15. The Five Punishments of Ancient China
For nearly 1,000 years the five punishments for slaves evolved across several Chinese dynasties, until about the time of the beginning of the Western Han. The five punishments had by then become applicable to all Chinese men, and included the death penalty, which could be applied for several crimes and which could be executed in a variety of ways. The remaining four punishments were intended to mark the person upon whom the penalty was applied. The most minor was the tattooing of the nature of the crime committed upon the forehead of the guilty. It was used as punishment for a wide variety of crimes, and marked the criminal as such for the rest of their life.
Next was the removal of the criminal’s nose. The third was the forced amputation of either or both feet, which according to some also included the removal of the kneecap. Fourth was sentencing the criminal to work in the emperor’s palace as a eunuch, which required the emasculation of the criminal via castration. The sentence could be given for the crime of adultery, promiscuity, or licentiousness, despite Chinese society recognizing a man’s right to keep concubines. When the maximum penalty was assigned, death was brought about in several ways, including the victim’s body being torn apart by chariots, beheading, boiling in water or oil, and by inflicting numerous slices which led to the victim dying from slowly bleeding to death (death from a thousand cuts).