First use of the zha guillotine
Title: First use of the zha guillotine (ID: 187)
SHI Yukun 石玉昆 Sanxia wuyi 三侠五义
Date_of_event: Song Dynasty (fictional)
Text_Interest: Example of a popular judicial fantasy linked to legendary Judge Bao Zheng.
Later version of the “Chenzhou corruption case”, part of Judge Bao’s legend since at least the 13th century. But this 19th century version adds the theme of execution by yaozhan using zha guillotine.
Comment: Several features of Judge Bao’s justice appear here: he doesn’t hesitate to lie to his powerful victims (in this case, a corrupt official, related to the Imperial family); he punishes swiftly, and has a bloody and peculiar way to inflict capital punishment: yaozhan (severing of the body at the waist) with the zha-guillotine. Judge Bao owns three zha : the dragon-head one, designed to punish relatives of the emperor; the tiger-head one, for guilty officials; the dog-head one, for commoners. Those three tools have been given to him as an imperial privilege (see Sanxia wuyi, chapter 9). Those peculiar execution tools are all legendary, and a late addition to judge Bao’s legend: they are likely to come mainly from hell’s lore.
Derniére modification le : 2005-11-15