The Kuomintang plans to amend the law to add flogging. Zhuang Ruixiong ridiculed: Just apply the Qing laws

Zhuang Ruixiong, Secretary-General of the Democratic Progressive Party. (File photo)

Kuomintang legislator Hong Mengkai announced an amendment to the "Criminal Code" to include "forced whipping" as an accessory punishment for major sexual violence, drug driving, child abuse resulting in death and serious injury, and major aggravated fraud. In this regard, Zhuang Ruixiong, Secretary-General of the Democratic Progressive Party, questioned why treason, major economic crimes, and even crimes involving members of Congress themselves were not included in caning? If they only wanted the intimidation of punishment, the Kuomintang could simply directly apply the criminal laws of the Qing or Ming dynasties, which might be more intimidating.

Zhuang Ruixiong pointed out that the current caning recommendations focus on beating ordinary people, but when it comes to treason, major economic crimes, and even crimes involving members of Congress themselves, why are they not included in caning? He bluntly said that if congressmen's crimes were also included in the caning punishment, people would think that "there are guts" instead of "hiding the whips of congressmen when they encounter them, and taking out the whips of ordinary people when they encounter them."

Zhuang Ruixiong bitterly criticized Hong Mengkai, "Does spanking work?" Should we consider chopping off our hands? If you only want the punishment to be intimidating, you can simply apply the Ming and Qing criminal laws such as the "Qing Code" and "Da Ming Code" directly. The threat may be stronger, but the problem is that modern people simply cannot accept it.

In fact, the criminal law systems of the Ming and Qing dynasties both centered on the "unity of laws and orders, heavy punishment for serious crimes, and the combination of etiquette and law." And the Qing law inherited the framework of the Ming law to a great extent. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they basically "referenced the Han Dynasty to decide the gold" and formulated the "Qing Code" directly based on the "Ming Code".

The "Da Ming Code" of the Ming Dynasty implemented the "five punishments" (whipping, cane, disciple, exile, and death), implemented "ruling the world with heavy codes", severely punished corruption, rebellion, and banditry, and invented torture methods such as peeling off the grass and using the imperial staff. The Qing Code of the Qing Dynasty continued to use the five punishments, but the death penalty was subdivided into execution by beheading and execution by hanging. It inherited the severe punishments of the Ming Dynasty, and punished thought criminals (literary prison), rebellion and secret associations extremely harshly. It adopted joint sitting and capital punishment, and the scope of joint punishment for relatives was far beyond that of previous generations.