This is a form of public humiliation popular during the Cultural Revolution of China. The victum's head is pushed to within a foot or two of the ground and their hands are grabbed and forced back and upward. The person is then subjected to much kicking and pushing, especially when attempts to move are made. Often a list of supposed crimes is read or statements about the person or the country they represented. Examples, from Hostage in Peking include things like "You have drunk alcohol in your house", "You have sneaked around in your house!", and "Hang Wilson" (Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time). Most of the time the 'crimes' the person was accused of never took place or where not actually crimes.
The term comes from the similiarity of this position with the shape of a fighter airplane.
source- Hostage in Peking by Anthony Grey, Doubleday, 1971