Execution by lingchi of pseudo-Fu-zhu-li

Date of event: Unknown
Date Accuracy: Dubious
Place Continent: Asia
Place Country: China
Place Region: Hebei (Zhili)
Place City: Beijing
Place_Street: Caishikou
PlaceAccuracy: Exact
EventNature: Execution

This execution became famous after publication of the photographs in the "Tears of Eros" (Larmes d'Éros) by Georges Bataille. However, they have been mistakenly presented as the pictures of Fu-zhu-li's execution by lingchi. This convict cannot be confused with the genuine Fu-zhu-li as he appears in Matignon, Carpeaux's books, and different sets of photography and postcards.

The condemned, a thin young man, still immune of all wound, is tied to the post with a rope, and also with his polytail, not yet visible as of the previous photograph. A pale grin can be already fathomed on his face.

The Chief executor starts untying Convict's arms, in order to carve them. The Convict's face is obscured, hence the impossibility to check whether he already shows the odd expression of later shots. Note the vertical charts advertising the Xihe niantang medicinal shop, which helps locate the scene on Caishikou execution field in Beijing.

This photograph has become famous after its publication by G. Bataille, who believed he was witnessing a "voluptuous ecstasy" on the face of the executed. A psychologist, G. Dumas, had already studied this "paradoxical expression". This might be the prevalent grin of previous pictures, merely amplified.

The executioner's blade enters into the convict's left knee, whose face seems "extatic" and his hair "risen": another moment made famous by G. Bataille; this shot also inspired the Spanish Painter Gimenez Solana for his "Supplicio cino".

Limbs have been cut off, except the right leg that the executioner is now desarticulating at knee level. The sixth and last photo for this lingchi, but there were probably beheading before, represented by the six other shots of the set.

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Kaynak:

http://turandot.chineselegalculture.org/Event.php?ID=10&