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Author: Zhou Zuoren
Author Country: China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: "Five of them are translations. Some may not agree, thinking translations shouldn’t be included with original articles. This is naturally reasonable. But I have a bias—since the words are handled by me and the meaning is what I like, things I want to say but can’t, though I don’t want to claim them, might as well borrow them. Just like how everyone quotes admired sentences from the ancients, I quote entire chapters and sections. I can declare that these translations are worth reading in this collection, and I only regret translating too little. In my own articles, only one, Women of Troy, is considered relatively good. The original text of this play is also worth a full translation."
Editor’s Note: Preface to Zhou Zuoren’s Self-compiled Collection of Essays and Prose
I. This series collects 36 volumes of essays and prose compiled by Zhou Zuoren himself, representing the complete works preserved to this day. Those compiled by others after his death are excluded.
II. For the printing of these books, the best available versions were selected as the basis, and the content, arrangement, and other aspects were kept in their original form without alteration, deletion, or revision.
III. The editorial corrections are limited to the following:
(1) Extensive efforts were made to collate multiple printings and periodicals for verification, and minor typographical errors were corrected where apparent;
(2) Traditional characters were converted to simplified characters, but characters that can be interchanged were retained;
(3) Book and article titles mentioned in the text were marked with quotation marks. For original titles that were not standardized and, gaps were left;
(4) The use of punctuation marks generally followed the author’s original style, except for obvious typographical errors that were not altered.
Excerpt:
November 27th, 1927 – The headline of the World Daily was "The Case of Catching Adulterers and Killing in Yangjiazhuang," with a note: "The original husband packed the heads of the adulterous man and woman into a bag and turned himself in to the court." A farmer from Wanping County, Cao Danyuan, killed his wife, Cao Liu, and her lover, Zhang Kuan, for adultery. This was not an extraordinary event, but one passage in the report was particularly interesting.
"Cao was mocked by the crowd and decided to kill Zhang. However, killing carries a death sentence, so after several attempts, he was frightened back. Later, Cao happened to hear people say that the Qing Dynasty law included a clause stating that when catching adulterers, both the man and woman’s heads must be severed simultaneously, and this would not incur a death sentence. Cao was an uneducated man and did not realize that the Qing Dynasty law was no longer applicable. Upon hearing this, he was persuaded by a few people and resolved to kill."
The result was that on the "10th day of the 9th lunar month in this year," he committed the aforementioned "case of catching adulterers and killing," which was being tried in the Peking District Court. Naturally, this case brought to mind the report on November 25th in the Beijing Daily about the "Case of the Military Detachment Humiliating the Judge."
According to Prosecutor Lian Shugeng’s report at the meeting of the entire Peking judiciary, "At 11 p.m. on the 18th of this month, the North Suburban Office of the Public Security Bureau sent a message stating that in the area of Daxizhuang, Jiaozhong Street, a woman surnamed Zeng was shot twice in the lower body by the 15th Division Staff Officer Zeng Xiancen of the Third Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army. She was then taken back to Jiaozhong Street No. 9 (Zeng Xiancen’s home) and died of her injuries. The office requested an immediate examination. At 9:11 a.m. on the 19th, the office sent another message stating that the woman was indeed Zeng Xiancen’s wife, who had been unfaithful, leading Zeng Xiancen to shoot her to death. The body has now been forcibly buried in a plot of land in the east of Daxizhuang’s stables, as ordered by the Division Commander Zhang Xianzeng."
The result was that "during the examination, dozens of soldiers and officers suddenly rushed to the scene, each holding a pistol, drove away the on-site police, and threatened Prosecutor Lian Shugeng and the court clerk with pistols, forcing them to leave the scene. The situation was extremely violent. Hundreds of onlookers scattered in panic, and order was lost. Lian Shugeng, seeing this, stepped back a few steps, but the soldiers and officers still followed, forcing him to go to the division headquarters. Upon arrival, they continued shouting and beating, though they did not make physical contact."
Regarding the issue of undermining the rule of law, we do not wish to discuss it, because first, we are completely unqualified in legal matters, and second, although "humiliation" is far better than Zhang Zongchang’s execution of the Higher Director of the Ministry, it is still the National Revolutionary Army, with authorities in Peking to maintain order. The distance from Daxizhuang is only two or three li, and it is unlikely to escalate severely. What I find particularly meaningful is that both cases mentioned above involve killing for adultery.
A farmer from Wanping County, Cao Danyuan, killed his wife, Cao Liu, and her lover based on the "Qing Dynasty law" for "catching adulterers and killing." The staff officer of the 15th Division of the Third Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army, Zeng Xiancen, shot his wife, Zeng Li, to death in the crossroads for being "unfaithful," based on—military law? The Republic of China does not recognize the killing of adulterers. The farmer is "uneducated," and the officer has guns, neither of whom recognizes the law of the Republic of China. To say they are "without law" is also too unfair; they simply recognize older laws: the Qing Dynasty law, which permits "catching adulterers and killing," is older than the Republic of China, and the law that permits killing a single person is even older.
On the surface, it is the Republic of China, and there is even a law of the Republic. Yet, from top to bottom, people’s minds are still those of the Qing Dynasty or earlier—firmly believing "women are property, and those who commit adultery should die." These two cases of killing for adultery serve as proof.
China is still unsure of what era it is in. At least it is not yet like the Republic, where even human rights are lacking, let alone women’s rights?—I can’t help but feel sorry for those enthusiastic revolutionary women comrades! (What are you happy about?)