It is often said that filial piety will be burned by lightning, is this true? Is there such a precedent in history? Sun Quan forbade burning, why would it prevail in later generations, and invented the appalling lighting of the sky lamp.
From the perspective of modern science, this should be very unscientific. Because thunder splitting people is only an accidental natural phenomenon, but it still has its positive effect on deterring those who are not filial piety. As for those who burned unfilial piety, there is indeed a precedent in history.
Burning people with fire refers to the use of fire as a torture device to burn people alive. This punishment existed in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The use of fire as a torture device can be used alone or in conjunction with other torture devices, such as boiling and cannon burning, which is the use of fire or other torture devices to indirectly cause death.
Burning people to death with fire alone, there is a saying in the I Ching that "burning as death is like abandoning". Therefore, later generations called burning at the stake, or burning. During the Spring and Autumn Period, burning was used against adulterers who committed treason.
In 520 BC, King Jing of Zhou died. Some people took advantage of the opportunity to rebel, and Zi Chao led Junzhao to attack the emperor (present-day Gongyi, Henan), but was defeated and captured, and burned to death by the King of Zhou, in order to do his best.
Zhou Li. Qiu Guan. It is recorded that anyone who does not honor their elders or their parents, especially those who kill their biological parents, shall be punished or executed at the stake. From this point of view, in the 800 years of the Zhou Dynasty, the punishment for filial piety, especially those who killed their own parents, was very severe.
The Zhou Li records that it is probably the earliest statutory punishment in history for those who do not filial piety. Later, this punishment was also used on others, and it was recorded in the literature of successive dynasties.
Liu Bang was besieged by Xiang Yu in Pengcheng, and he was at the end of his rope
For example, in the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang was besieged by Xiang Yu in Pengcheng, and it was difficult for Liu Bang to escape, and later his confidant Ji Xin wore Liu Bang's clothes and pretended to surrender, confusing Xiang Yu. Liu Bang took the opportunity to escape from the trail, and Ji Xin was later burned alive by Xiang Yu.
Another example is the last year of the Western Han Dynasty, when Wang Mang was in charge. When the Xiongnu Xindan Succeeded to the throne, Wang Mang sent Wang Zhaojun's brother to the Xiongnu, and a large Western Han delegation presented valuable gifts to the Xiongnu Shan Yu and proposed to repatriate Chen Liang and others who had betrayed the Western Han Dynasty. The Xiongnu shan yu granted the request of the Han envoys, and more than 40 people who rebelled against the Han dynasty, led by Chen Liang, were brought back to the Western Han and burned alive.
After the Shang Zhou, burning was widely used. During the Three Kingdoms period, Lü Yi, the minister of the State of Wu, committed a heinous crime and was burned at the stake according to the law. Sun Quan, the lord of Wu, weighed it up again and again, and felt that it was too cruel. Zhongshu Ling Kan Ze also said: Now that it is a peaceful and prosperous world, it seems a little inappropriate to use torture at the stake. Sun Quan adopted Kan Ze's advice.
The benevolent Lord Sun Quan
Sun Quan abolished the burning and limited it to the Three Kingdoms and one Dynasty, the State of Wu. After Sun Quan, the burning was revived and never stopped, especially developing into a terrifying lantern. Within the clan, bandit groups, tyrannical people... To those who disobey discipline, to those who seize, to those who do not filial piety... Torture of lighting sky lanterns is often carried out.
Lighting a sky lantern is the most vicious and cruel punishment of burning. The raw material for lighting sky lanterns is often made of sackcloth dipped in oil. The specific method is to first hang the captured living person upside down with his head down and feet up, and wrap him tightly with a sackcloth dipped in oil. The executioner lit it from his feet and let the fire burn slowly, and the tortured often cried and cried for their mothers, and were burned alive and burned, and the scene was appalling, tragic, and inhumane.
The bad habit of lighting sky lanterns was continued until after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and bandits often used this kind of torture to deal with their enemies, and such cases are often recorded in the literature of bandits. In some remote ethnic minority areas, when there is an armed struggle between clans, there is also the phenomenon of catching the enemy and lighting the sky lantern.
The scene of lighting the sky lantern
It is worth mentioning that burning is one of the tortures used by rulers in history to maintain their rule. But whenever the rivers and lakes come out of the mix, they always have to pay it back. In history, when some tyrants fell into the country, they also used to self-immolate to end their lives. For example, after the defeat of the last tyrant king of the Shang Dynasty, after the defeat at the Battle of Muye, in the face of the menacing army of King Wu of Zhou, he saw that the trend had gone, and he chose to burn at the stake to end his sinful life. He probably never dreamed that the burning would one day fall on him.