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.