Cangue: The crushing mantle of discipline and dishonour in imperial China
In centuries past, before the rise of modern justice, some punishments in China targeted not only the body, but the spirit.
One of the most feared was the cangue: a heavy wooden collar locked around the neck, trapping its wearer in public view.
From the Song Dynasty to the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, this device, often weighing 10 to 100 pounds, was used for crimes like theft, adultery, or disobedience.
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Offenders could not feed themselves or move freely. They stood in markets, crossroads, and village squares, their suffering an open warning to all.
More than a punishment, it was a sentence of humiliation. Days or weeks in the cangue left the body aching and the spirit broken. Many depended on strangers for food or water, adding to the shame.
Though banned over a century ago, the cangue still appears in museums, literature, and dramas — a chilling reminder of a time when justice sought not just to correct but to crush.
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