Kee Thuan Chye's piece on What will they do about racism now? had had a swipe at Siti Inshah Mansor, the principal of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Kulai, who allegedly spewed racist remarks during an assembly in her school. The noted Malaysian dramatist, poet and journalist suggests among other things, having the educator put in a cangue. A cangue is a small device used to contain criminals in not only China but also in some parts of East Asia and Southeast Asia and is similar to the pillory of the Western world. That inevitably reminds of some of the many different torture devices used in old Chinese courts, most notably, Tean Zu, the ancient Chinese torture device often featured in old Chinese costume movies. Contemporary movies often have police extracting information from criminals with plain brute force. If there is any torture device used, it would be the modern electric lamp and that's nothing compared to Tean Zu. If a criminal were to put his or her fingers between the wooden sticks of the Tean Zu and the strings of the Tean Zu were to be tightened, the fingers could easily be crushed. You wouldn't have to seek the aid of a Tean Zu to solicit racist remarks, would you?
Which of the following is a Chinese torture device and which is not?
Comments