Top: Chinese men seeking alms by threatening to kill themselves by self-mutilation, one (left) kneeling to hit his head against a rock, and the other (right) with burning herbs on his head; below, a monk being whipped as a punishment for promiscuity. Engraving by C. Du Bosc after B. Picart after J. Nieuhof.

Description by Nieuhof: "When we had moored at the afore-said the town (Nanking), various beggars came aboard and indulged in some strange antics. Two of them butted each other’s heads to such an extraordinary degree that those who saw them were shocked. They did not stop until we gave them money; [if we had not done so] they would have battered each other to death, which had happened on various occasions. There was another one who was on his knees and seemed to be talking to himself and then he struck his forehead on a heavy rock. He knocked so hard that the earth trembled. Some of them had dry kindling on their heads which they set fire to and they let it burn down completely and it stank. They made so much noise with their shrieking and moaning that it was impossible not to give them something. Those who were blind went in groups. They hit so mercilessly to the rhythm some words on their bare chest and backs that blood spurted forth. Some of these beggars had been misshapen since childhood; their appearance was so ghastly they looked like devils."—Sun, op. cit. p. 229

Description by Du Halde, loc. cit.: "China swarms with strolling beggars, musicians and fortune tellers. These vagrants travel in companies, sometimes all blind folks; and they are as great impostors as the gypsies of Europe. They practise many austerities to extort alms, as scourging their bodies, laying burning coals on their heads, striking their foreheads against a stone, or one another, till huge lumps arise, or they fall down quite stunned. They will continue inflicting these severities on themselves till they die, unless the spectators give them something to desist. Many of them are cripples, having wry necks and mouths, broken backs, long hooked noses, eyes blind or squinting, and lame arms or legs. …"

[London] : C. Du Bose

1 print : engraving ; platemark 34.2 x 22 cm

A begging devotee beating his head against a stone in order to receive alms. Gueux devot qui se heurte de la tête sur une pierre pour recevoir la charité. A begging devotee burning combustible druggs upon his head for the same purpose. Gueux devot qui se fait bruler des drogues sur la tête jus qu'à ce qui on lui donne la charité. A friar doing penance for breach of chastity. Religieux en penitence pour avoir eté surpris avec une femme. B. Picart del. C. Du Bosc ex.

Sun Jing, The illusion of verisimilitude: Johan Nieuhof’s images of China, dissertation, University of Leiden, 2013. pp. 228-231

Jean-Baptiste Du Halde, The general history of China, in John Green (ed.), A new general collection of voyages and travels; London: printed for Thomas Astley, 1747, vol. 4 p. 278

Wellcome Collection 37983i

After an engraving in the opposite direction published in J. Nieuhof, Het gezantschap der Neerlandtsche Oost-Indische Compagnie, Amsterdam 1665, reproduced by Sun, op. cit. p. 276