Injury to the Breast

Chen HengqingNanhai Publication Company · ChinaJun 2024

3.2

Word count: 396 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Outside the capital lies Duckbill Creek, an open stretch of ground where foreigners gather for their annual horse races. One race day, men and women crowded in to watch. A young woman came by on a donkey; a young scholar happened to set off a firecracker, the donkey bolted, and she fell, striking her breast on a stone so that blood trickled through her clothes. Her husband argued with the scholar, and together they went to the city office to lodge a complaint. I first ordered a midwife to examine the injury; she reported it was not serious, and a wound salve stopped the bleeding. At the hearing the scholar proved to be a xiucai of Wanping. I rebuked him: “You saw the young woman coming on the donkey and deliberately startled it with a firecracker—clearly a mischievous prank, which shows your habitual frivolity.” I ordered twenty hand-slaps, and the case was closed; I also wrote out the judgment to show them. It read: “Foreigners race their horses, arriving at Duckbill Creek; the young woman falls from her donkey and mistakenly wounds her flesh. The New Year couplets are not yet changed—why a firecracker?”

Editor's review

This piece is a short, sharp note on a judicial case, centering on the day of the foreign horse races at Yazui Creek, when a young woman on a donkey was startled and fell, injuring her breast. The author, in the role of the investigator, first orders the midwife to examine the injury and apply medicine to stop the bleeding, then interrogates the Xiucai from Wanping in court, rebukes him for deliberately startling the donkey with firecrackers as a frivolous prank, sentences him to twenty slaps, and writes a judgment to conclude the case. Its value lies not in a convoluted plot but in the complete presentation of grassroots judicial procedure in the late Qing: injury examination, court interrogation, punishment, and written judgment follow one another, showing a fine sense of proportion. The judgment is especially readable, opening with "Foreigners race horses, coming right to Yazui Creek; a young woman falls from her donkey and mistakenly wounds her breast"—parallel and prose mixed, playful yet dignified, mocking the scholar's frivolity while retaining a literati word game. Readers can glimpse the rhetorical pleasures of traditional judgments and the actual operation of grassroots justice, and also feel the late-Qing capital's life where the old and new, Chinese and Western, mingled. It suits readers interested in Qing legal culture, judgment literature, and capital customs for casual reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Qing grassroots judicial procedure and judgment texts
General readers who enjoy short notes, legal anecdotes, and urban customs
Literature and history enthusiasts studying late-Qing capital life and Sino-Western mixing
Writers and teachers needing examples of judgments and classical Chinese sketches

Not a good fit for

Mystery readers expecting complex suspense and multiple twists
Beginners unfamiliar with classical Chinese judgments and old judicial contexts

Reading tips

Read the case through first, then return to the judgment to appreciate the interplay between parallel-phrase mockery and the measured handling of the case.
Note the sequence of injury examination, court interrogation, slapping, and written judgment; compare with other Qing judgment notes.
Treat details such as the Yazui Creek races and the firecracker-startled donkey as slices of capital custom, jotting them down for reference.

About the publisher

Nanhai Publication Company China · Founded in 1988

Nanhai Publication Company is a comprehensive publisher known for its literature and arts titles, covering fields such as classical poetry, martial arts fiction, and folk literature. Judging from the more than 1,600 books in the database, the company has released classical poetic works including the Nineteen Old Poems and the Nine Songs, as well as multiple volumes of Huanzhulouzhu's series The Swordsmen of Mount Shu, along with related writings by authors such as Guan Hanqing, Qu Yuan, Zuo Si, and Wang Zhihuan. Its publishing character lies in balancing the organization of classic texts with the dissemination of popular literature, placing poetry anthologies alongside long martial arts novels and presenting a relatively diverse literary profile. Public information is limited, and further details about its editorial practices and series planning remain to be supplemented.

版权信息
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FAQ

What was the cause of the case and the verdict?

According to the book, on a day of foreign horse racing at Yazui Creek outside the capital, crowds gathered; a young woman passed on a donkey, and a scholar casually set off firecrackers that startled the donkey. The woman fell, struck a stone, and her breast bled. Her husband and the scholar went to the city office to lodge a complaint. The author first had the midwife examine the injury and apply medicine to stop the bleeding; in court he learned the scholar was a Xiucai from Wanping, rebuked him for a deliberate prank, ordered twenty slaps, and concluded the case with a written judgment.

Which lines in the judgment best show its verbal wit?

The judgment opens with "Foreigners race horses, coming right to Yazui Creek; a young woman falls from her donkey and mistakenly wounds her breast," then asks, "The New Year couplets are not yet changed—where did the firecrackers come from?" Parallel and prose alternate, identifying time, place, and persons while mocking the scholar's frivolity in a playful style. In a few lines it strings together the races, the fall, the injury, and the firecrackers, combining gravity and humor—a rhetorically self-aware example of traditional judgment writing.

What judicial procedure does the book reflect?

The book presents a fairly complete sequence: first the midwife is ordered to examine the injury and, according to her report, medicine is applied to stop the bleeding; then the scholar is interrogated in court and his identity established; next his motive is rebuked, twenty slaps are imposed, and finally a judgment is written to close the case. Examination, interrogation, punishment, and drafting of judgment unfold in order, showing that late-Qing grassroots adjudication valued both physical evidence and the writing and proclamation of literati judgments.

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About the author

Chen Hengqing Author · Chinese · 1844–1920

Chen Hengqing (1844–1920), courtesy name Zijiu, was a native of Weixian in Shandong (present-day Weicheng District, Weifang). A late Qing official and scholar, he passed the provincial examination in 1873 and the metropolitan examination in 1886. He served successively as a secretary in the Ministry of Works, rising through the Waterways, Construction, and Colonization Departments, and later held posts as Supervising Censor of the Ministry of War, Investigating Censor of the Henan Circuit, and Chief Supervising Censor. In 1908 he was appointed prefect of Jinzhou. He retired at sixty and wrote works including Jianshu Xian Notes (also known as Jili Qingtan) and Unofficial Gleanings of the Late Qing. His extant writings are considerable, with 154 titles held in our collection, many drawing on folk literature and Eastern philosophy. They touch on modern upheavals such as the militia conflicts, the Boxer movement, and the Nian rebels, as well as rural tales and social types like foxes and swindlers, and social issues such as Manchu-Han differences, bearing the documentary flavor of note-style historiography. Public information is limited, and his literary standing and influence await further study.