1984 - 13

• "'It was a common punishment in Imperial China,' said O'Brien as didactically as ever." (p. 286)
  

Orwell alludes to Imperial China in this passage, a place where methods of torture were used as a tool for the releasing of information or confessions. Within the traditional Chinese system of justice, the government believed that torture could result in more substantive justice - in the sense that the guilty were more likely to be convicted and the innocent allowed to go free. In 1984, Orwell incorporates this tactic as a way for Winston to obey the power of the Party. Since he won't allow his mind to accept their irrational ways, O'Brien resorts to torturing Winston until he faces his breaking point.

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/late_imperial_china/summary/v029/29.2.park.html
http://www.thewrestlingschool.co.uk/Dead%20Hands%20Image%20Tied%20hands.jpg