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Credit
A Chinese man and woman shown with their necks enclosed in stocks known as the 'cangue'. Gouache painting on rice-paper, 1780/1880?. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
The prisoners are shown being subjected to a form of pillory used in China for minor offences, known as the 'cangue' (or 'tcha' or 'kea'). This consisted of a large board with a hole cut in the middle to accommodate the prisoner's head, preventing eating or drinking and making the prisoner dependent on the benevolence of others. In this image, a woman approaches the prisoners' guard with a basket of food. To either side of the prisoner's heads are shown pieces of paper on which inscriptions describe the nature of their crimes.
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