Appendices, Notes
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APPENDIX 1: Sample Confessions CH'U SSU ygo was a sect teacher from a village southeast of Peking. He was arrested in the fall of 1813. The rebels had considered and then rejected a plan for Ch'u Ssu to lead his men in an attack upon the imperial entourage as it returned from Jehol, and Ch'u was interrogated repeatedly about this plan. His various confessions about this and other matters, taken together with those of some of his associates, illustrate the kinds of information contained in con fessions, the reliability of such testimony, and the judicial process that produced them. A. First Interrogation of Ch'ii Ssu Memorial from the Grand Council and the Board of Punishments (KKCK 207.1, CC 18/9/24): On 9/23 we received a report from the censors for the south city [of Peking] saying that they had seized the criminal Ch'ii Ssu and [others]. They have been interrogated. The text of Ch'ii Ssu's confession is attached. Confession of Ch'ii Ssu (KKCK 208.1, 18/9/24) From T'ung district. Age thirty-six. Mother Miss Meng. Older brother Ch'ii Wen-hsiang. Wife Miss Ts'ai. My son Ch'ang-yu-r is ten. I was born the son of Ch'u Te-hsin but then I was adopted by Ch'u Wu. When I was nineteen, Liu Ti-wu brought me and Ch'ii Wen hsiang to take Ku Liang (who has since died) as our teacher. I entered the sect and recited the eight characters "Eternal Progenitor in Our Original Home in the World of True Emptiness." On the 14th day of the 8th month [of 1813] Lin Ch'ing told Liu Ti-wu to put me in charge of one to two hundred men and lead them to Yen-chiao [outside Peking] to rise up there. Later on I didn't have this many men and could only bring fifty or so. For this reason, they decided not to go ahead with that plan. Instead we chose ten men from thosefifty to come into the capital and enter [the Forbidden City] through the Tung-hua Gate. He also gave me two knives and a 271 272 APPENDIX 1 white banner with "Entrusted by Heaven to Prepare the Way" written on it. The other men each had a knife and two pieces of white cloth. I led Li Yuan-lung, Teng Erh, Chou San, Chou Ssu, Chang Yung-jui, Chu Liu-t'ao, Jen Erh; Kao Wu, An Ta, and Chang Yung-kuei, and we all came into the capital to start this affair. Kao Wu, An Kuo-t'ai, and Chang Wu were afraid and didn't come. Li Yuan-lung and the other six men and I all went in the Sha-wo Gate. Then we went in the Ch'ien Gate to outside the Tung-hua Gate, where we were all to assemble. We saw the group of our comrades who were all in front of us go in the gate and initiate the incident. The gate was then closed and so we all scattered and fled. At sunset I arrived back at home and I hid. On the 17th I was seized by some official men. Liu Ti-wu also sent the men under Li Lao (who is from Yang-hsiu village) in the Tung-hua Gate. Ku Ssu and Li Erh's men went in the Hsi-hua Gate. This is the truth. 24th day of the 9th month. B. Second Interrogation of Ch'ti Ssu Second confession of Ch'ii Ssu [submitted by the Grand Council and Board of Punishments] (KKCK 227.3, 18/10/21): On 8/14 of this year, Liu Ti-wu brought me to Sung-chia village to see Liu Ssu (who is also known as Liu Ch'eng-hsiang). The two of them said to me, "Those of us in Sung-chia and Sang-fa villages now number fifty or sixty men. You all at your place must select between thirty and fifty. Altogether that would make over one hundred. Assemble at Yen-chiao." I said, "The men in our village who are believers are few, and among them there are some old people and young children who are of no use for this. I could only find ten strong and able-bodied men. I can't get as many as thirty or fifty." They told Lin Ch'ing what I had said, and Lin Ch'ing told me to come and see him. He said to me, "So you all there can't get together thirty or fifty men. I can't spare you any of my men here. The [Ch'ing] soldiers accompanying the emperor on the hunt are numer ous, so I've decided that we can't go to Yen-chiao [to ambush the emperor]. Instead, on 9/15 we will just go into the capital and cause our incident there. The soldiers will not be able to move fast enough [to get back to Peking], and we are sure to succeed. We will occupy the capital, and then everything will be fine. You just bring ten men, and follow Liu Ssu and go in the Tung-hua Gate." Aside from what I've already told you, I really don't know any more about how many men there were in the capital area. Lin Ch'ing SAMPLE CONFESSIONS 27 3 truly did not tell me when the men from Honan would arrive to give us reinforcements. I have committed a serious crime, so how could I dare hide anything now? C. Third Interrogation of Ch'il Ssu Memorial from the Grand Council (CFCL 17.4-7, 18/11/6): We questioned Ch'ii Ssu once more. He said: On 8/14 Liu Ssu (also known as Liu Ch'eng-hsiang) transmitted a message to me from Lin Ch'ing saying that I was to assemble people and go to Yen-chiao. The people in my village were few, and I couldn't mobi lize many, so I told them this. Later on Lin Ch'ing told me to come see him and said, "Since you can't get together a lot of people from your place there, then the people you can get should follow Liu Ssu and go in the Tung-hua Gate and rise up. We will occupy the capital city. Don't be afraid of the imperial entourage. Don't go to Man churia." [I came out of his house] and Liu Ssu said to me that the men from Honan would come on 9/15, for the Trigram Master himself had arranged this. At that time we would kill the officials and people inside and outside of the capital city. On the 17th we would all surge out to Yen-chiao and do that business [killing the emperor]. And so on 9/15 I led Chang Shun and the others, ten men, and went into the city to rebel. This is the truth. (CFCL 17.23-24, 18/11/9) On this day there was a court interrogation [in the presence of the Chia-ch'ing Emperor] of Ch'ii Ssu and Ts'ao Lun. Both were then executed by slicing and their heads displayed publicly. D. Interrogation of Yen Ch'i H -t Confession of Yen Ch'i [submitted by the Grand Council and Board of Punishments] (KKCK 225.1-2, 18/10/18): Also known as Yen Cheng-li. From Ta-hsing district: Lao-chun t'ang. Age forty-three. Parents are dead. Younger brother Yen Lao. Wife Miss Ch'ii. Elder son Liang-r, younger son Shan-r. Elder daughter Wu-chieh, younger daughter San-Ian. This Ch'ii Ssu is my wife's younger cousin on her father's side. On 9/10 of this year, Ch'ii Ssu sent a message that I should go to his house. There he urged me to join his assembly. I didn't want to. He 274 APPENDIX 1 said, "If you decide you want to join the sect, come again to my house on the 14th of this month and I will have some special confi dential things to tell you." Because I didn't want to join the sect, I didn't go on the 14th. On the 15th, before dawn, my wife's younger brother Ch'u Ming-r came and said to me, "Today Ch'u Ssu is going to rebel. He wants you to help him. Get a knife and some white cloth and wait at the teahouse on the main street at the Flower Market. Then go quickly with me and together we will go in the Tung-hua Gate to start the incident." I said I did not dare go along. Ch'u Ming-r said, "If you don't, then later on when Ch'u Ssu is successful, the lives of your family will not be safe." I was so afraid that I went along with Ch'u Ming-r, in the Sha-wo Gate. All the time, the more I thought about it, the more afraid I got. When we reached the Flower Market, I ran off and returned home. That day I didn't even see Ch'u Ssu, or any knives or white cloth. After a few days, official people came to my house and arrested me. E. Interrogation of Tai Wu M.i- Memorial from the prefects of Shun-t'ien [prefecture, Chihli] (KCT 015579, 19/2*/16): We received a report saying that a bannerman from Wu-ch'ing had given information that a rebel in the Lin Ch'ing case named Tai Wu was hiding in his district near Wang-ming village.