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A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame in which a weighted and angled blade is raised to the top and suspended. The condemned person is secured with stocks at the bottom of the frame, positioning the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, to fall swiftly and forcefully decapitating the victim with a single pass so that the head falls into a basket below.<br/><br/> The device is best known for its use in France, in particular during the French Revolution, where it was celebrated as the people's avenger by supporters of the revolution and vilified as the pre-eminent symbol of the Reign of Terror by opponents. The name dates from this period, but similar devices had been used elsewhere in Europe over several centuries.
The French colonial administration built Hoa Lo Prison in 1896. Originally intended to hold 450 prisoners, by the 1930s the number of detainees had soared to almost 2,000, the great majority political prisoners.<br/><br/> Hoa Lo Prison achieved notoriety during the Second Indochina War as a place of incarceration for downed US pilots, who ironically nicknamed the prison the ‘Hanoi Hilton’. American prisoners of war held at Hoa Lo between 1964 and 1973 include Pete Peterson, who would later become the first US Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1995; and John McCain, currently senior Republican Senator for Arizona and a recent presidential candidate, who was shot down over Hanoi in October, 1967.
Bao Zheng is today respected as a symbol of justice in China. Throughout history, his largely fictionalized stories have appeared in a variety of different literary and dramatic genres, and have enjoyed sustained popularity. Bao Zheng was born into a scholar family in Hefei, Anhui province. At the age of 29, he passed the highest-level Imperial examination and became qualified as a Jinshi. He was a magistrate in Bian (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty. He is famous for his uncompromising stance against corruption among the government officials at the time. He upheld justice and refused to yield to higher powers.<br/><br/> After his death, Bao Zheng's stories were retold and preserved particularly in the form of performance arts such as Chinese opera and pingshu. Written forms of his legend appeared in the Yuan Dynasty in the form of Qu. In Ming Dynasty times the novel Bao Gong An increased his popularity and added a detective element to his legends. The Qing Dynasty novel The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants also added a wuxia (martial arts literature) twist to his stories. In opera or drama, he is often portrayed with a black face and a white crescent shaped birthmark on his forehead. In most dramatization of his stories, he used a set of guillotines, given to him by the emperor, to execute criminals.
Bao Zheng is today respected as a symbol of justice in China. Throughout history, his largely fictionalized stories have appeared in a variety of different literary and dramatic genres, and have enjoyed sustained popularity. Bao Zheng was born into a scholar family in Hefei, Anhui province. At the age of 29, he passed the highest-level Imperial examination and became qualified as a Jinshi. He was a magistrate in Bian (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty. He is famous for his uncompromising stance against corruption among the government officials at the time. He upheld justice and refused to yield to higher powers.<br/><br/> After his death, Bao Zheng's stories were retold and preserved particularly in the form of performance arts such as Chinese opera and pingshu. Written forms of his legend appeared in the Yuan Dynasty in the form of Qu. In Ming Dynasty times the novel Bao Gong An increased his popularity and added a detective element to his legends. The Qing Dynasty novel The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants also added a wuxia (martial arts literature) twist to his stories. In opera or drama, he is often portrayed with a black face and a white crescent shaped birthmark on his forehead. In most dramatization of his stories, he used a set of guillotines, given to him by the emperor, to execute criminals.