Zanzhi
The ''zanzhi'' ( 拶指) finger crusher was a Chinese instrument of torture consisting of small sticks strung together with cords, which when placed around the fingers and gradually pulled, caused agonizing pain in order to force a confession. Under traditional Chinese law, a person could not be convicted of a crime unless they confessed. The ''zanzhi'' was a legal and non-lethal torture method for forcing women to confess, and for men there was the similar and more painful ''jiagun'' ( 夾棍) ankle crusher with three wooden planks that slowly compressed the feet. Names and pronunciations The word ''zǎnzhǐ'' is written with two Chinese characters. The first ( 拶) has alternate readings of ''zā'' meaning "to force; to compel; to press" or ''zǎn'' "to squeeze the fingers (an ancient form of torture); the instrument used in the torture" (''Wenlin'' 2016). The second character ''zhǐ'' ( 指) represents the common term for "finger". In terms of Chinese character classificatio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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List Of Methods Of Torture
A list of torture methods and devices includes: Psychological torture methods *Being subjected to long periods of interrogation *Blackmailing *Chinese water torture *Exploitation of phobias; e.g., mock execution, leaving arachnophobes in a room full of spiders *Castor oil *Forced nudity * Music torture * Pharmacological torture *Sensory deprivation *Sensory overload *Sleep deprivation *Solitary confinement/ Isolation *Threat of permanent, severe disfigurement * Tickle torture *Waterboarding * White room torture Physical torture methods Instruments of torture Note that the line between "torture method" and "torture device" is often blurred, particularly when a specifically named implement is but one component of a method. Also, many devices that can be used for torture have mainstream uses, completely unrelated to torture. Medieval and early modern instruments of torture Chair of Torture Appearance There are many variants of the chair, though they all have one thin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thomas Henshaw (alchemist)
Thomas Henshaw (1618–1700) was an English lawyer, courtier, diplomat and scientific writer. While not a published alchemist, he was a significant figure in English alchemical work from the 1650s onwards; he is known to have used the pen-name "Halophilus". Early life The son of Benjamin Henshaw and his wife Anne, and brother to Nathaniel Henshaw. he was baptised at St. Mary Magdalen, Milk Street, City of London, on 15 June 1618. After attending school at Barnet and then at Cripplegate, London, under Thomas Farnaby, he was entered as commoner at University College, Oxford, in 1634, and remained there five years without taking a degree. At the suggestion of Obadiah Walker and Abraham Woodhead, he studied mathematics, a student of William Oughtred at Albury, Surrey for nine months from 1636, finding it more stimulating than the teaching of his tutor John Elmherst. He also knew the Rosicrucian scholar William Backhouse, who was another of Oughtred's pupils.Darley, p. 49. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Manuel De Faria E Sousa
Manuel de Faria e Sousa (; es, Faria y Sousa; 18 March 1590 – 3 June 1649) was a Portuguese historian and poet. He frequently wrote in Spanish. He was born of an ancient Portuguese noble family, probably at Pombeiro, studied in Braga for some years, and when about fourteen entered the service of the Bishop of Porto. With the exception of about four years, from 1631 to 1634, during which he was a member of the Portuguese embassy in Rome, the greater part of his later life was spent at Madrid, and there he died in June 1649. He was married to Catarina Machado, the "Albania" of his poems, enabled him to lead a studious domestic life, dividing his cares and affections between his children and his books. His first important work, an ''Epitome de las historias Portuguezas'' (Madrid, 1628), was favorably received; but some passages in his enormous commentary upon Portuguese epic Os Lusíadas, the poem of Luís de Camões, excited the suspicion of the inquisitors, caused his tempor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jesuit China Missions
The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a significant role in continuing the transmission of knowledge, science, and culture between China and the West, and influenced Christian culture in Chinese society today. The first attempt by the Jesuits to reach China was made in 1552 by St. Francis Xavier, Navarrese priest and missionary and founding member of the Society of Jesus. Xavier never reached the mainland, dying after only a year on the Chinese island of Shangchuan. Three decades later, in 1582, Jesuits once again initiated mission work in China, led by several figures including the Italian Matteo Ricci, introducing Western science, mathematics, astronomy, and visual arts to the Chinese imperial court, and carrying on significant inter-cultural and philosophical dialogue with C ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Catholic Priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only to presbyters and pastors (parish priests). The church's doctrine also sometimes refers to all baptised ( lay) members as the "common priesthood", which can be confused with the ministerial priesthood of the consecrated clergy. The church has different rules for priests in the Latin Church–the largest Catholic particular church–and in the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches. Notably, priests in the Latin Church must take a vow of celibacy, whereas most Eastern Catholic Churches permit married men to be ordained. Deacons are male and usually belong to the diocesan clergy, but, unlike almost all Latin Church (Western Catholic) priests and all bishops from Eastern or Western Catholicism, they may marry as laymen before their ordination as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Society Of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = , founding_location = , type = Order of clerics regular of pontifical right (for men) , headquarters = Generalate:Borgo S. Spirito 4, 00195 Roma-Prati, Italy , coords = , region_served = Worldwide , num_members = 14,839 members (includes 10,721 priests) as of 2020 , leader_title = Motto , leader_name = la, Ad Majorem Dei GloriamEnglish: ''For the Greater Glory of God'' , leader_title2 = Superior General , leader_name2 = Fr. Arturo Sosa, SJ , leader_title3 = Patron saints , leader_name3 = , leader_title4 = Ministry , leader_name4 = Missionary, educational, literary works , main_organ = La Civiltà Cattolic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Álvaro Semedo
Álvaro de Semedo (Latinized form: Alvarus de Semedo; , ''Zeng Dezhao'', earlier 謝務祿 ''Xie Wulu'') (1585 or 1586,. Mungello quotes sources for both 1585 and 1586 as Semedo's date of birth. - 18 July 1658), was a Portuguese Jesuit priest and missionary in China. Life Álvaro Semedo was born in Nisa, Portugal in 1585 or 1586. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1602, and on 29 March 1608, he left for Goa and the Far East aboard ''Nossa Sra. do Vencimento''. He arrived in Macau in 1610, and Nanjing in 1613. Along with another Jesuit, Alfonso Vagnoni, he was imprisoned during an anti-Christian campaign in Nanjing in 1616, and then sent back to Macau, where he stayed until 1621. As the persecution campaign in the mainland China abated, Fr. Semedo changed his Chinese name from Xie Wulu to Zeng Dezhao and re-entered China, now working in Jiangsu and Jiangnan provinces. He spent most of his term in China in the central and southern provinces; perhaps his only trip north w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1653 Álvaro De Semedo - Historica Relatione Del Gran Regno Della Cina
Events January–March * January 3 – By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage. * January– The Swiss Peasant War begins after magistrates meeting at Lucerne refuse to hear from a group of peasants who have been financially hurt by the devaluation of the currency issued from Bern. * February 2 – New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City) is incorporated. * February 3 – Cardinal Mazarin returns to Paris from exile. * February 10 – Swiss peasant war of 1653: Peasants from the Entlebuch valley in Switzerland assemble at Heiligkreuz to organize a plan to suspend all tax payments to the authorities in the canton of Lucerne, after having been snubbed at a magisterial meeting in Lucerne. More communities in the canton join in an alliance concluded at Wolhusen on February 26. * February – The Morning Star Rebellion (''Morgonstjärneupproret'') of peasants breaks out in Swe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Holinshed's Chronicles
''Holinshed's Chronicles'', also known as ''Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland'', is a collaborative work published in several volumes and two editions, the first edition in 1577, and the second in 1587. It was a large, comprehensive description of British history published in three volumes (England, Scotland and Ireland). The ''Chronicles'' have been a source of interest because of their extensive links to William Shakespeare's history plays, as well as ''King Lear'', ''Macbeth'' and '' Cymbeline''. Recent studies of the ''Chronicles'' have focused on an inter-disciplinary approach; numerous literary scholars have studied the traditional historiographical materials through a literary lens, with a focus on how contemporary men and women would have read historical texts. The ''Chronicles'' would have been a primary source for many other literary writers of the Renaissance such as Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser and George Daniel. Description In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout the world. Work began on the dictionary in 1857, but it was only in 1884 that it began to be published in unbound Serial (literature), fascicles as work continued on the project, under the name of ''A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society''. In 1895, the title ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' was first used unofficially on the covers of the series, and in 1928 the full dictionary was republished in 10 bound volumes. In 1933, the title ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' fully replaced the former name in all occurrences in its reprinting as 12 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |