Abstract:

As the Cipei (literally, prick and expel) punishment was abused in judicatory practice of Song Dynasty, the number of fugitives convicted for expulsion increased significantly. Accordingly, the Song court transferred and dispersed the convicts from the capital and its environs to remote regions in the south. However, by the turn of the Southern Song, the exiled criminals gradually assembled in the Five Ridges, where they joined the forces of Yankou (salt bandits) and Dongkou (minority bandits), resulting in a chronic threat to the stability in the region and its surrounding areas.

Key words: Cipei punishment, cruel law for gangsters, The Five Ridges, banditry region