From the export penalty paintings collected in Guangzhou Museum thus far, it can be observed that they were inspired by traditional Chinese woodblock paintings, which depicted scenes of great cruelty and realism through the use of startling images. As such these later versions can be viewed as valuable historical narratives, as well as a direct way for Westerners to glimpse the Chinese judicial system and penalties at that time. Thus, we must turn to both Chinese and Western sources to analyze the most common scenes in these penalty paintings, and thus to illustrate the historical and cultural value of these paintings.

Shenpan: The Trial

The first page of the exported Chinese punishment albums in Guangzhou Musuem is typically a trial (Shenpan, 審判).  Here, depiction of the Chinese court poses a stark contrast to its Western counterpart. According to the policies regulating foreigners in Qing China, they were restricted to the small area in the Foreign District of the thirteen hongs (十三行商館區), and they were not allowed to enter the city, much less visit Chinese courts. For this reason, trial scenes remained a great mystery and of great interest. Zhouxian Yamen (州縣衙門), the local court in the Chinese judicial system, is the most frequently depicted in the export punishment scenes. American missionary Samuel Wells Williams recorded the procedures conducted by local trial officials, which correspond to depictions in the paintings: “When in court, the officer sits behind a desk with writing mate rials before him, his secretaries, clerks, and interpreters, being in waiting, and the lictors- vith their instruments of punishment and torture, standing around. Persons who are brought before him kneel in front of the tribunal. His official seal, and cups containing tallies which are thrown down to indicate the number of blows to be given the culprits, stand upon the table, and behind his seat, a kilin or unicorn, is depicted on the wall. There are inscriptions hanging around the room, one of which exhorts him to be merciful. There is little pomp or show, either in the office or attendants, compared with our notions of what is usual in such matters among Asiatics. The former is a dirty, unswept, taw-dry room, and the latter are beggarly and impertinent."[8]  

When the local judge opens a trial, he is accompanied by an official on duty, a recorder, a guard who holds the qian, which are the bamboo sticks with Chinese characters on them, as well as some guards in charge of controlling the captive and conducting the beating of captives. All parties involved must kneel before the judge, with the plaintiff and the defendant on the side and the witness in the center. Local people are usually allowed to watch the trial as audience.[9] The scenes depicted in the export penalty paintings correspond to Qing accounts. According to the law, local judges were in charge of both civil and light criminal cases in their respective territories. A local judge not only held trials and delivered sentences, but he was also in charge of inspecting, questioning, and holding suspects in custody. As local judges they only had the power to order punishments by rod-beating and shackling. All other cases must be initiated in superior courts. 

Among everything that transpired within Chinese courts, methods of extorting confessions from suspects were the most interesting to Westerners. They believed that physical compulsion was a common practice in China at this time: “…but by the Chinese law no man can be punished with death unless he confesses his crime…Of course in a case of life and death he will deny it as long as he can. But if he will not confess, the court proceeds to take stringent measures to make him confess…Horrible as this seems, I have heard good men – men of humanity – argue in favor of torture, at least ‘when applied in a mild way’. They affirm that in China there can be no administration of justice without it. In a country where testimony is absolutely worthless – where as many man can be hired to swear falsely fir ten cents apiece as you have money to buy – there is no possible way of arriving at the truth but by extorting it.”[10] Chinese judges in Western narratives are portrayed as torturing their captives cruelly for their confessions: “while these poor wretches were thus trithing in agony, I turned to the judge to see how he bore the spectacle of such suffering. He sat at his table quite unmoved; yet he did not seem like a brutal man, but like a man of education, such as one might see on the bench in England or America. He seemed to look upon it as in the ordinary course of proceedings, and a necessary step in the conviction of a criminal. He used no bravado, and offered no taunt or insult. But the cries of the sufferers did not move him….He sat fanning himself and smoking his pipe, as if he said he could stand it as long as they could”[11]