Zetta Ingrum

“Cixi began to revolutionise China's legal system. In May 1902, she decreed a wholesale review of 'all existing laws...with reference to the laws of other nations...to ensure that Chinese laws are compatible with those of foreign countries'. With a legal reform team headed by a remarkable mind, Shen Jiaben, who had a comprehensive knowledge of traditional laws and had studied several differentWestern codes, a brand-new legal structure based on Western models was created in the course of the decade, covering a whole range of commercial, civil, criminal laws and judicial procedures. Cixi approved the team's recommendations and personally decreed many landmark changes. On 24 April 1905, the notorious 'death by a thousand cuts' was abolished, with a somewhat defensive explanation from Ci:xi that this horrific form of execution had not been a Manchu practice in the first place. In a separate decree, torture during interrogation was prohibited. Up to that point it was universally regarded as indispensable to obtain confessions; now it was deemed 'only permissible to be used on those whom there was enough evidence to convict and sentence to death, but who still would not admit guilt'. Cixi made a point of expressing her 'loathing' for those who had a penchant for torture, and warned that they would be severely punished if they failed to observe the. new constraints. Prisons and detention centres were to be run humanely; the abuse of inmates would not be tolerated. Law schools were to be set up in the capital and provinces, and law studies were to be made a part of general education. Under her a legal framework began to be constructed.”
― Jung Chang, Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China

“The most generous beds are the ones where every harvest makes room for the next.”
― Charles Dowding, Grow Together: 50 Planting Partnerships to Boost Your Harvests

“Happy memories are like lifesavers, keeping us buoyant amid stormy seas and changing times.”
― Rich DiSilvio

“Don’t quit your desk job for stealth combat, my lord. You’d endanger the whole squadron with the noise you make just breathing.”
― Candace L. Talmadge, Stoneslayer: Book One Scandal