It is said in The Romance of Awakening the World that thieves are "demons that disturb the world, make the world peaceful, and make ghosts fear God and grieve", which shows the great harm of thieves. A common thief in the ancient street is called "lifting his head". They are informers who jump from one house to another and climb from one house to another. Among these thieves who are called "turning their heads", there is also a thief who can turn into the house without ropes and hooks, which is called "entry", while the thief who turns into the house with bamboo poles and ropes is called "entry". This kind of thief is good at kung fu, and some can even climb over the high walls of the palace and steal the treasures in the palace. In the heavily guarded palace, thieves can come and go freely, even the emperor is distressed.

The history books of the Song Dynasty recorded the confessions of thieves: "From September to February, the nights are long and the weather is cold, and people are afraid of being cold and lazy, so they can be thieves." This kind of thief who breaks in when the night is long and the weather is cold is called "night swallow".

Names of ancient thieves

There were many names of ancient thieves. The thief who uncovers the bricks on the roof, makes a hole and goes down the rope is called "opening the skylight"; A thief who digs a hole in the wall is called "opening a kiln mouth" or "opening a peach garden". They drilled into holes in the wall to steal things; The names of thieves who specialize in grave robbing are "grave digging" and "vertebral burial"; A burglar is called "moving stolen goods". Among them, those who are active before dawn are called "morning treading", those who commit crimes in broad daylight are called "running by day" and "ghosts by day", and those who steal unexpectedly at dusk are called "running snuff". A thief who steals while the owner locks the door is called "eating a clip", and "clip" is a lock. This thief relies on a homemade "master key".

According to historical records, in the Northern Song Dynasty, a man in the capital Tokyo went to a restaurant to drink, and found a bunch of keys on the wine table, with dozens of them. The man found the keys, but he didn't know what to do with them, so he put them in his wallet. Late at night, he met several young people on his way home and insisted on buying him a drink and worshiping him as a teacher. It turned out that these young people stole his wallet and thought he was a habitual thief and ate the right food. After repeated explanations, the matter was stopped.

In the name of begging, first visit the door to observe the terrain and property, and then find opportunities to steal, called "iron abacus"; The thief who steals other people's clothes to dry unexpectedly is called "Shousunlang"; Specially stealing chickens is called "taking orders"; The person who steals cattle is called "lead by the nose"; The person who steals into the cabin is called "drilling the foundation", and "foundation" refers to the ship; Fishing for property with tools such as long poles is called "digging the waist"; Thieves who steal in the crowd are called "meddling", among which those who steal with their bare hands are called "open insertion" and those who steal with scissors and blades are called "mud insertion" There are also "scissors" and "small profits" in Mud Insert, which are bags made of silk worn by urbanites in the Northern Song Dynasty, similar to today's wallets.

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". "City thief" is cunning and superior. Even in heavily guarded places, some pickpockets can come and go freely and steal skillfully. At that time, people called these pickpockets "skillful hands and empty fists".