The Glasgow Chronicle. — 1850-07-03 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

THE PUNISHMENTS AND AMUSEMENTS OF THE CHINESE.  Among the attractions to be opened for the people of Glasaow during the approaching annual Fair, the celebrated c'hinese Collection, which has been exhibited for some , time past with great success at the head of Buchanan Street, : will take a prominent place. The collection is now being erected upon a most eligible spot in the Green, rather removed (as it certainly ought to be) from the dense crowd - ;rifirsi!gorw„sunad I : d within„tlie r t h the amusementsenclosure, w hh directly crowd oppositethe us the Court-house. The immense success which has attended the exhibition in Glasgow has induced the proprietor to cater on a more extended scale for the sight-seers of Glasgow on the present occasion; and we have availed ourselves of the courtesy shown us by inspecting privately two large and highly-finished paintings exe cuted from sketches by Chinese artists, representing the aubject at the head of this notice—the Punishments and Amusements of the Chinese. The paintings are admirably executed, and reflect great credit on the talented artist employed on them. The two paintings cover an area of 200 feet square, or 100 feet each. In the former is represented the trial of a Chinese culprit by native judges, surmounted by the figure of the imperial dragon, indicative of the presence and sanction of royalty. The facts of the case are deponed to by the prosecutor, whose oath is administered in due form; and the ceremony of cutting off the cock's head sufficiently indicates the importance of the testimony given. The movements of justice are not tardy or unnecessarily protracted. An appeal to the judge in minor cases frequently eventuates in the vindication of the law in summary punishment by the use of the bamboo, pillory by the cangue or wooden collar, imprisonment, &c. &c. Weightier crimes, as treason, murder, &c., are protracted, that due notice may be given of the execution. Around the centre group, representing the trial, are ingeniously displayed the several modes of sanguinary punishment inflicted by the Chinese. Fnlike the laws of our own Christian land, which ore happily tempered by mercy, and administered with is for. , bearing hand, the vengeance of the insulted law of China 1 is made to descend with fearful and unerring certainty Upon the daring Celestial who violates its supremacy ; E j est i 0 e, degenerating into revenge, is, in some eases, appeased i l' only by the complete extermination of the culprit's wife and ' family, even to the infant at her breast—called, in the case of trea,onaglinst the Emperor, "cutting off root and branch." i Here is depicted the act of strangulation - there the executioner decapitating his victim—there again the operation [' of the ' fiag-chs" or "cutting into a thousand pieces"—and to complete the catalogue of these extraordinary, and to European musts, almost inconceivable laws and punishineats, the last scene reveals the most revolting sentence that even Chinese ingenuity and refinement of cruelty can inflict. But as all our readers will undoubtedly see this painting for themselves, we pass on to the next which is much more agreeable-