When did this thief do it? They are all exquisite, as recorded in the History of Song Dynasty. At that time, a thief was caught. After the trial, the thief confessed all the crime habits of their profession. They usually choose to steal from September to February (lunar calendar), when the nights are long and the sky is cold, animals hibernate, people are lazy and like to sleep in cages. At this time, the beginning is just right. It is on this night that the success rate of burglary is very high, so it is a peak of burglary.
There are many ways for thieves to break into houses. They uncover the tiles on the roof, make a hole and go down the rope. This is called "opening skylight", and there is also a thief who digs holes in the wall called "opening kiln mouth", also called "opening peach garden". They drilled a hole in the wall and then went into the hole to steal property.
Burglary, since ancient times, the most commonly used method is to twist the door and pick the lock. Thieves who break into houses and steal are called "moving stolen goods", among which those who act before dawn are called "walking in the morning", those who start in broad daylight are called "running by day" or "ghost by day", and those who steal unexpectedly at dusk are called "running out of breath". The thief who goes out to steal while the owner locks the door is called "eating the clip", and the "clip" is the lock.
In ancient China, there were thieves with clear division of labor! And there are many kinds of things stolen, such as the idiom stealing chickens and touching dogs. In ancient times, those who stole chickens were called "taking orders" and those who stole cows were called "leading by the nose".
He who steals other people's clothes while others are unprepared is called "Shousunlang". Those who steal things in the cabin are called "digging the foundation", which refers to the ship, and those who "fish" the property with tools such as long poles are called "digging the waist". Today, thieves have also inherited and developed this point. I'm not stealing a boat. It's very cold, and now the boat is sailing too fast to catch up with the swimming. Everything we can catch up with is in Somalia, all pirates.
There are quite a few thieves stealing in the street. The thief who steals in the crowd is called "mind your own business"! There are also subclasses here. Those who steal with their bare hands are called "open insertion", while those who steal with scissors and blades are called "mud insertion". There are also "scissors" and "small profits" in the "mud insert", which are bags made of silk and thread worn by urban residents in the Northern Song Dynasty, similar to today's wallets, but "mud insert"
In ancient times, thieves were also classified according to the area of theft. The thieves outside the city are called "grass thieves" and the thieves in the city are called "city thieves". At that time, people called these unpredictable "pickpockets" skillful hands and empty hands.
Finally, remind parents that they must take good care of their belongings on the way to and from school, lock the doors and windows after going out, and teach their children some common sense of security against theft.
Excerpt from: Reflections on Hong Nenxiu's blog post