Caishikou Execution Grounds

Caishikou Execution Grounds
Execution of Boxers at the execution ground.
Simplified Chinese菜市口法场
Traditional Chinese菜市口法場

Caishikou Execution Grounds (traditional Chinese: 菜市口法場; simplified Chinese: 菜市口法场; pinyin: Càishìkǒu Fǎchǎng), also known as Vegetable Market Execution Ground,[1] was an important execution ground in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty. It was located at the crossroads of Xuanwumen Outer Street and Luomashi Street.[2] The exact location is under debate today. However, contemporary sources and photographs put it across from the Heniantang Pharmacy (Chinese: 鶴年堂藥店).[3]

Executions were usually carried out at 11:30 AM.[4] On the day of the execution, the convict would be carted from the jail cell to the execution grounds. The cart stopped at a wine shop named Broken Bowl (Chinese: 破碗居) on the east side of Xuanwu Gate, where the convict would be offered a bowl of rice wine.[5] The bowl would be smashed after it was drunk. During the executions of infamous convicts, it was common for a large crowd to gather and watch. The torture death by a thousand cuts was also carried out at the execution grounds.[6]

The Catholic bishop Alphonse Favier wrote about the execution ground in the 1890s:[7]

The convicts, on their knees, are executed one after the other, their bodies carried to the dump, their heads hung in little cages on a tripod frame made of poles. Passerby can view the bloodless heads, their huge, terrified eyes half eaten by magpies and crows that peck through the rungs; each queue trails down to the ground; dogs look on and stand on their hind legs trying to get to them

— Alphonse Favier, Péking: histoire et description
  1. ^ H. Y. Lowe (1942). Stories from Chinese Drama. Peking Chronicle Press.
  2. ^ Henriot, Christian; Yeh, Wen-hsin (2012). Visualising China, 1845-1965: Moving and Still Images in Historical Narratives. Brill Publishers. p. 66. ISBN 978-9004233751.
  3. ^ "Decryption of Caishikou autumn execution: prisoners before the execution to eat big cake sauce elbow". dailynews.sina.com. 2009-11-27. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  4. ^ The time was 午時三刻 in old Chinese timekeeping, which corresponded to 11:30AM. "Anecdote of beheading and execution in ancient China". China Times. Archived from the original on 20 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Beijingers of the Past Seen in Photos (part three)". beijingtouragency.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 23 Aug 2015.
  6. ^ Chan, Shelley W. (2011). A Subversive Voice in China: The Fictional World of Mo Yan. Cambria Press. ISBN 978-1604977196.
  7. ^ Associate Professor of History Timothy Brook; Professor of History and Republic of China Chair Timothy Brook; Timothy Brook; Jérôme Bourgon, Gregory Blue, Associate Professor of History Gregory Blue (15 March 2008). Death by a Thousand Cuts. Harvard University Press. pp. 285–. ISBN 978-0-674-02773-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)