A Paradise Lost by Young-tsu Wong

Author:Young-tsu Wong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Singapore, Singapore

5.2 Crime and Punishment

As an exclusive royal demesne giving the highest priority to security, the Yuanming Yuan tolerated no crimes, and any form of crime, however trivial, was subject to severe punishment. Prosecution and punishment were in the hands of a committee of an unspecified number of senior officials whom the Imperial Household had appointed. They wished to prevent anything unpleasant from happening in the garden; however, if rules were violated or consequential mistakes made, they would act aggressively to pursue the case and to impose strict punishment so as to keep the imperial garden absolutely safe. The available evidence shows no violent crimes, such as murder and robbery, ever occurring inside the Yuanming Yuan during its 150 years of history.

As a matter of fact, anyone in the garden who violated any set of rules, whether intentionally or unintentionally, or even behaved so presumptuously as entering or leaving the garden without authorization would be considered a “criminal” subject to punishment.

In 1774, for instance, a patrolman caught a teenage Manchu boy by the name of Erge, who had been working in the European section of the Eternal Spring Garden, climbing a garden wall. The testimony of both sides was recorded. The boy testified that he wanted to escape from the garden because his supervisor had given him a harsh caning for being late on returning from a leave and threatened him again with the same terrible punishment. The chief eunuch of the Eternal Spring Garden who supervised the boy’s supervisors found out that the boy got himself in trouble because he was “unruly and lazy.” He broke a rule by leaving without permission in the first place, for which he deserved to receive flogging thirty times; yet, only 2 days after the punishment, he sneaked out of the garden again. His immediate supervisor, Chen Jinzhong, went all the way to Beijing trying to find him before he returned to the garden. The boy, apparently fearing an even harsher punishment for the repeated offense, tried in vain to climb the wall to flee.

The investigation, after being concluded by the responsible officials at the Imperial Household, was reported to the Qianlong Emperor. The recommendation for punishment was based on the penal codes of the Great Qing, which stipulated that climbing the imperial walls was a serious crime. No clemency was given in consideration of the offender’s tender age, even though the earlier arbitrary caning for being late had been recognized, obviously because the emperor and his Imperial Household refused to exchange tight security for leniency. The Manchu boy thus received an incredible punishment of one hundred strokes before being banished a thousand miles away. Due to his Manchu ethnic background, however, he could substitute the banishment with 2 months in the cangue. This punishment was carried out with the final approval of the throne (YMYA 1991, 1:72–74). The case may reveal that an offense such as absconding was a serious crime subject to very severe punishment. Cruel punishments were no doubt practiced behind the beautiful facade of the garden, and a high human price was paid for the strict security.

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