Susan Prison

Susan Prison

Susan prision is located in the South of the ancient Scholar Tree of the Hongtong County, with an area of 610 square meters. It was first built in the Ming dynasty(1396), and is the only well preserved prision from the Ming dynasty in existence today. Susan, whose story is well known all over china, was imprisoned in this jail. Hence the name. It is an important place for studying the rules and regulation of the ancient penal system in the feudal China. Susan was a famous courtier during the Ming dynasty. A young man, who was later to become an important official at the imperial court, fell in love with her. Later Susan was wrongly accused of trying to poison her landlord. She was convicted and thrown to a prison, which later was to carry her name. Luckily enough her former suitor came to her rescue and overturned her sentence. Susan’s story has inspired several well known Chinese operas, the Yu Tang Chun, The Women Guards, and The Trial on Three Courts.