Myths and Legends of China | Page 8

lex talionis
was in full force.
Nevertheless, in spite of the harsh nature of the punishments, possibly
adapted, more or less, to a harsh state of society, though the "proper
end of punishments"--to "make an end of punishing"--was missed, the
Chinese evolved a series of excellent legal codes. This series began
with the revision of King Mu's Punishments in 950 B.C., the first
regular code being issued in 650 B.C., and ended with the well-known
_Ta Ch'ing lü li_ (_Laws and Statutes of the Great Ch'ing Dynasty_),
issued in A.D. 1647. Of these codes the great exemplar was the Law
Classic drawn up by Li K'uei (_Li K'uei fa ching_), a statesman in the
service of the first ruler of the Wei State, in the fourth century B.C. The
_Ta Ch'ing lü li_ has been highly praised by competent judges.
Originally it sanctioned only two kinds of punishment, death and
flogging, but others were in use, and the barbarous _ling ch'ih_,
'lingering death' or 'slicing to pieces,' invented about A.D. 1000 and
abolished in 1905, was inflicted for high treason, parricide, on women
who killed their husbands, and murderers of three persons of one
family. In fact, until some first-hand knowledge of Western systems
and procedure was obtained, the vindictive as opposed to the
reformatory idea of punishments continued to obtain in China down to
quite recent years, and has not yet entirely disappeared. Though the
crueller forms of punishment had been legally abolished, they
continued to be used in many parts. Having been joint judge at Chinese
trials at which, in spite of my protests, prisoners were hung up by their
thumbs and made to kneel on chains in order to extort confession
(without which no accused person could be punished), I can testify that
the true meaning of the "proper end of punishments" had no more
entered into the Chinese mind at the close of the monarchical _régime_
than it had 4000 years before.
As a result of the reform movement into which China was forced as an
alternative to foreign domination toward the end of the Manchu Period,
but chiefly owing to the bait held out by Western Powers, that

extraterritoriality would be abolished when China had reformed her
judicial system, a new Provisional Criminal Code was published. It
substituted death by hanging or strangulation for decapitation, and
imprisonment for various lengths of time for bambooing. It was
adopted in large measure by the Republican _régime_, and is the chief
legal instrument in use at the present time. But close examination
reveals the fact that it is almost an exact copy of the Japanese penal
code, which in turn was modelled upon that of Germany. It is, in fact, a
Western code imitated, and as it stands is quite out of harmony with
present conditions in China. It will have to be modified and recast to be
a suitable, just, and practicable national legal instrument for the
Chinese people. Moreover, it is frequently overridden in a high-handed
manner by the police, who often keep a person acquitted by the Courts
of Justice in custody until they have 'squeezed' him of all they can hope
to get out of him. And it is noteworthy that, though provision was made
in the Draft Code for trial by jury, this provision never went into effect;
and the slavish imitation of alien methods is shown by the curiously
inconsistent reason given--that "the fact that jury trials have been
abolished in Japan is indicative of the inadvisability of transplanting
this Western institution into China!"
Local Government
The central administration being a far-flung network of officialdom,
there was hardly any room for local government apart from it. We find
it only in the village elder and those associated with him, who took up
what government was necessary where the jurisdiction of the unit of the
central administration--the district magistracy--ceased, or at least did
not concern itself in meddling much.
Military System
The peace-loving agricultural settlers in early China had at first no
army. When occasion arose, all the farmers exchanged their
ploughshares for swords and bows and arrows, and went forth to fight.
In the intervals between the harvests, when the fields were clear, they
held manoeuvres and practised the arts of warfare. The king, who had
his Six Armies, under the Six High Nobles, forming the royal military
force, led the troops in person, accompanied by the spirit-tablets of his
ancestors and of the gods of the land and grain. Chariots, drawn by four
horses and containing soldiers armed with spears and javelins and

archers, were much in use. A thousand chariots was the regular force.
Warriors wore buskins on their legs, and were sometimes gagged in
order to prevent the alarm being given to the enemy. In action the
chariots occupied the centre,