The body is skinned, and the parents are received; If it falls off, it will be returned to its owner.
This passage seems somewhat incomprehensible to us today. After all, "hair" can fall to the ground just in the daily washing and grooming, and it is very troublesome to clean up.
Some unruly people even shaved their heads directly, and the so-called "return of parents" is impossible to talk about.
However, in the eyes of the ancients, "hair" symbolized the blood bond between children and their parents, so much so that they even imposed strict rules on the days of haircuts.
From here, it is not difficult to see why the ancients deliberately invented the special punishment of "髫 punishment".
So, when did this punishment come into being? And why was it abolished?
The word "髡" is translated as "hair" and "beard" in the ancient Chinese dictionary, and the so-called "髡 punishment" literally means shaving off the prisoner's hair and beard to show the government's punishment for him.
This punishment first appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
At that time, the punishment was not a separate punishment, but only a variant of the palace punishment.
The rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty paid attention to the concept of "governing the world with virtue". Therefore, when someone touches the law and needs to be punished with the cruel punishment of "palace punishment".
If the person was not a serious offender or a repeat offender, the emperor would often show his benevolence and give him a reduced sentence, also known as a slash.
The punishment at this time was very different from that of later generations, and it was only the shaving of the hair short.
In the Qin Dynasty, under the impetus of Li Si, the "shaving of the prisoner's hair" became an independent punishment from the palace punishment, and the content of the punishment also changed to "shave off the hair and beard of the prisoner to set an example".
Since then, it has become an indispensable punishment in China's feudal dynasties. It was not until the establishment of ** that this punishment was officially abolished.
Perhaps as modern people, we will ask such questions:
Why did the ancients attach so much importance to body hair? ”
In fact, this traditional custom is closely related to the social atmosphere of ancient China. As early as the middle and late stages of primitive society, China began to pay attention to the concept of "state of etiquette".
In the Xia and Shang dynasties, the rulers carried forward the concept of "governing the country with etiquette". The ancients believed that a country without etiquette was a barbaric place, and those who did not follow etiquette were contemptuously called "barbarians" by them.
Among all the etiquette, the ancients admired nothing more than "filial piety", so that even Confucius, a Confucian scholar, expressed the feeling of "the parents of all in the world".
Although there are many loopholes in this sentence now, it is not difficult for us to see from here how much importance the ancients attached to filial piety.
It was also because of the backwardness of science and technology at that time that the ancients did not have a deep understanding of physiological knowledge. Therefore, when they find that the newborn actually has its own hair, they will naturally regard it as a "vision from heaven".
They see the baby's hair as a "gift" from the parents to the child. This also explains why ancient children would deliberately put their hair carefully in a bag when shaving, which undoubtedly showed their respect for their parents.
This is also the fundamental reason why the ancients vigorously promoted the punishment of the scum.
In the eyes of the ancients, who paid attention to etiquette and practiced filial piety, shaving the hair and beard of a prisoner was to show the world that the person was "disloyal, unfilial, and extremely sinful."
This punishment is also a warning to his parents. If you don't discipline your children strictly, you won't be doomed.
Although the prisoner who was subjected to this punishment did not feel any pain, the mental impact he received was no less than that of cutting off his head.
The person who was first sentenced to death was undoubtedly an outlier among the other well-dressed and well-groomed people, and everyone would know that he had committed various crimes, and the isolation and cold eye he would receive would be self-evident.
The second reason is that the prisoners who have undergone this punishment will not only be ridiculed or excluded by others, but their parents and even the entire family will be labeled as "not governing the family strictly".
After all, how can a family with a good family culture raise a descendant who tramples on the law and is thus punished?
As a result, the ancients, especially those who came from high families, may have regarded punishment as a more severe punishment than "scourging" or "exile."
When the time came to the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, with the abolition of other cruel punishments, the punishment also disappeared from people's sight unconsciously.
This also makes one wonder why the almost painless punishment of suffocation was abolished because of humanitarianism.
There are two main reasons for this:
One is because of the impact of Western culture. At that time, China's national gate was blasted open by the British ships, and Western cultural ideas were immediately spread to China.
Moreover, under the influence of the Westernization Movement at that time, people at that time began to blindly believe in Western culture, and naturally left their traditional culture behind.
Therefore, for this ancient punishment, the upper echelons began to abolish it indiscriminately, not only for the punishment of the scum.
The second is because the times are advancing. With the development of the times, people began to stop blindly paying attention to etiquette.
Especially in that war-torn era, if you repeatedly stick to the ancient etiquette, then the country is likely to be scorched because of their grinding.
People began to pay more attention to pragmatism, and under the impetus of Mr. Sun Yat-sen, "cutting hair" became a commonplace daily activity, symbolizing a farewell to the ancient feudal dynasty.
Whether it is a genuine desire to say goodbye to the oppressed and miserable life of the past, or simply because it is too troublesome to take care of the hair, people no longer fear torture.
At that time, the upper echelons saw that the punishment was no longer a deterrent, and knew that this punishment was completely useless, so they naturally abolished it.
As a result, the punishment withdrew from the stage of history. Instead, haircuts have become a daily activity that we take for granted.
In fact, the rise and fall of the "penal punishment" also symbolizes the development process of our country.
From the beginning, the ancient oriental country that paid attention to legislation and even did not know how to be flexible has transformed into an all-encompassing and aggressive modern scientific and technological power.
There is nothing wrong with leviculating, but it is also important to pay attention to the timing of its implementation.
In times of peace, we can naturally use moral etiquette to restrain our behavior and become a person of good moral character.
However, when the country is in danger when the wolf smoke is everywhere, we should also learn to be flexible. Put etiquette aside for the time being and focus on the big picture.
After all, the enemy will not let you go because you are morally noble, but will think that you are weak and can be bullied, and will double down on your country and people.
When the world is peaceful and the country and the people are safe, it is not too late to pick up morality and etiquette.