Execution Grounds

Lore & Background

On the day of an execution, the convict would be carted from the jail cell to the execution grounds. The cart stopped at a wine shop named Broken Bowl (Chinese: 破碗居) on the east side of Xuanwu Gate, where the convict would be offered a bowl of rice wine. The bowl would be smashed after it was drunk. During the executions of infamous convicts, it was common for a large crowd to gather and watch.

The torture death by a thousand cuts was also carried out at the execution grounds. The Catholic bishop Alphonse Favier wrote about the execution ground in the 1890s: 'The convicts, on their knees, are executed one after the other, their bodies carried to the dump, their heads hung in little cages on a tripod frame made of poles. Passerby can view the bloodless heads, their huge, terrified eyes half eaten by magpies and crows that peck through the rungs; each queue trails down to the ground; dogs look on and stand on their hind legs trying to get to them.'

Reader's Guide

The Caishikou Execution Grounds were located at the crossroads of Xuanwumen Outer Street and Luomashi Street. The exact location is under debate today, but contemporary sources and photographs put it across from the Heniantang Pharmacy. Executions were usually carried out at 11:30 AM. On the day of execution, the convict would be carted from the jail cell to the execution grounds, stopping at a wine shop named Broken Bowl on the east side of Xuanwu Gate, where the convict would be offered a bowl of rice wine. During executions of infamous convicts, large crowds would gather and watch. Bishop Alphonse Favier's 1890s account describes heads hung in cages on a tripod frame, with magpies and crows pecking at them and dogs trying to reach them. Most executions were by beheading; only specific crimes were punished by death by a thousand cuts.