📖 Meaning
To obtain a confession through torture and coercion, resulting in a false admission of guilt. It describes the abuse of judicial power where innocent people are forced to confess to crimes they did not commit. The idiom highlights the miscarriage of justice caused by violent interrogation methods.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from traditional Chinese legal practices where magistrates used corporal punishment to extract confessions during criminal trials. In imperial China, a confession was often required to close a case, leading corrupt or impatient officials to torture suspects until they admitted guilt regardless of actual innocence. The phrase reflects a well-known criticism of the ancient judicial system found in legal texts and vernacular literature. It serves as a condemnation of judicial cruelty and the unreliability of coerced testimony.
💡 Example Usage
昏官不问青红皂白，将无辜百姓枉勘虚招，酿成冤案。
The corrupt magistrate ignored the facts and tortured innocent commoners into false confessions, resulting in a gross miscarriage of justice.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 枉勘虚招
- Pinyin: wǎng kān xū zhāo
- Literal Translation: wrongly interrogate, false confession
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4