When feudal Chinese prisoners were beheaded, why didn't they protest, but voluntarily knelt?

In ancient times, why were prisoners so docile when executing prisoners, barely protesting, and consciously knelt to wait for orders to behead?

5 Steps To Take Before Executing Prisoners In Ancient China

The most common form of execution in ancient China was beheading. And according to the regulations, before the execution of the death sentence, the soldiers will go to the execution ground first to clean up and carry out the mandatory procedures.

1. The first step is to inform the executioner in advance before executing the prisoner, to ask the executioner to sharpen his knife, and to strive for the highest level of sharpness.
2. The second step is to announce the implementation time, generally after the fall. Because at this time everyone's busy farming time has just passed, autumn also corresponds to "gold" in the five elements, that is, everything is silent at this time, the lowest vitality, gold represents use, to cut down, represents destruction.
3. The third step is to notify the people around, the prisoner and their families. Basically, at this stage the execution of the death penalty was a certainty. The only way to be rescued at this time is the emperor's secret.
4. The fourth step is that before the execution of the sentence, there are some important things, the death row inmate will be taken to the street, the first is to warn the people, the second is to force his accomplices to come out as much as possible.

Before being executed, prisoners will be led out into the street to deter people.

1. The fifth step is to escort the prisoner to the place of execution and conduct the immediate beheading at three-quarters of the afternoon. Three-quarters of the afternoon is generally from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., when the heaviest yang energy can suppress and dispel yin, preventing the ghosts of death row inmates from haunting.

The reason why death is "obedient" when beheaded

In many Chinese films and television productions, we can clearly see that when executed, the prisoners are essentially glazed, haggard and very cooperative, without resistance. The main reason is that since the prisoners were tortured to near death in prison before execution, the execution was a relief for them.

There are three reasons why prisoners obediently accept punishment on their knees:

The first is to show respect for the rule of law and respect for the country, forcing prisoners to kneel to accept the death penalty.

Secondly, before the execution of the death sentence, the life of prisoners in the prison was not good, they were not only tortured by the guards but also under constant psychological pressure. Those who have gone through such torture have no energy or spirit left to resist kneeling before death.

The prisoner accepted the beheading penalty on his knees because his spirit and health were exhausted.

In order to prevent the prisoner from escaping or resisting, the food given by the warden was not very good, the purpose was to make the prisoner no longer have the strength to escape during the execution. In addition, the execution of the death penalty needs to wait for the allotted time, so death row inmates who are held for too long will languish due to malnutrition, knowing that they will be sentenced to death naturally without hope. living.

Beheading was formed during the Wei and Jin dynasties, and was finally perfected in the Tang dynasties. All death sentences were to be decided by the emperor's review. In addition, due to ancient superstition, the execution of the death penalty was only carried out at a specific time, it can be seen that although it is a feudal society, it is still very cautious about the death penalty.

In order to maintain the emperor's authority and deter the common people, beheading punishment for prisoners was carried out most severely. Therefore, death row inmates, even though they know they are about to die, do not dare to protest because they still have family members. Any opposition from them on the execution ground will bring disaster to the family.

And the last reason, in ancient times kneeling was not so important, even in the face of superiors, kneeling was not particularly difficult. For death row inmates, believing that kneeling when beheaded can make them a good person in the next life, this makes them even more irresistible.