Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 2/Robbers
Robbers 盜賊 tao tsei.
These are divided into several classes, the following being a few of them:
Flying thieves, 飛賊 fei tsei. These enter the house by going over the roof with a pole; their sandals being made of human hair. In the day time they pretend to be sleepy, lazy fellows, but when they go to steal they can fly over the beam or walk on the partition 飛梁走壁 fei liang tsou pi. This kind of thief can get at the silver no matter where it is placed; and only takes silver and gold. He leaves the other things for a lower caste thief. It is generally believed that he has some dealings with evil spirits. When he goes out for a depredation it is spoken of as 出馬, or to take out the horses.
Shang fang tzŭ 上房子, to go on the roof. This class of thief enters by the roof and leaves by the door. At the door he has an assistant waiting to whom he hands his booty, who in turn gives it over to the carrier who runs with it.
Shun shou 順手, to take what lies to hand. This is done by people who in their own town are reckoned to be good and responsible citizens, but go from home to do business of this kind. The proverb has it that 黃鶯不打窩下食, 好賊不偷自家人, 'the eagle will not take the food of its own nest, and the thief will not steal from his own household.'
The local head of thieves gets a large share of the booty 坐地分肥 tso ti fên fei. When a thief comes to any district he makes arrangements with the local head of the thieves, who then becomes surety for him. When robbers are about to commit a robbery they always have a person acquainted with the house, called a hsien tzŭ k‘ê 線子客 or spy. Hence the proverb which says tsei wu chüeh t‘ou pu ch‘u 賊無脚偷不出; 'a thief who has no footing cannot steal.'
Their first work is to count their men, to each of whom a cash-string is given, (these strings are counted on their return; if they are short one string they know that one man is wanting, and they may possibly go back to release him; unless they have reason to think that he is dead.) Oil is then spilt over a pile of cash paper, which is burned as an offering to the spirits, asking for success in their adventure. Brown paper is then soaked in oil and rosin, and made into small torches, which are lighted and stuck on the front of each person's hat. The men's faces are all blackened or made up with hideous colours. Each man has his work allotted. Some carry the battering ram or niu êrh tzŭ 牛兒子 for smashing open the door. Others carry hatchets and weapons for self-protection. Some are detailed to watch the four sides of the house, and give warning if help is arriving. The cry of chang shui 漲水 'the flood is rising,' is a sign that the neighbours have risen to protect the family. After the robbery is completed, there is what is known as tien chiang pai hua 點將擺花 count the men and display the booty. Any dead are carried away with them if possible, and disposed of in the most convenient way, for fear of leaving any trace of the origin of the band. The head of the gang gets 40 per cent, and the remaining 60 per cent, goes to the men who have done the work. The division is made after all expenses of the raid have been deducted.
Robbery by piercing a wall requires an instrument known as the ao tao 𢳆刀 or ch‘iao tao 撬刀, a crowbar. After a hole has been pierced through the wall, a bamboo with a handful of straw tied on the end of it is pushed inside to see if the way is clear; all being well the thief crawls in feet first, for fear of getting a bang on the head, and so as to be able to to crawl quickly out again in case of alarm.
When a character of this sort reaches a strange place he will draw a picture on a blank wall, such as a head with a moustache on one side of the mouth only. Other particular classes of thieves draw the picture of a single hand or foot. The picture of a head without any hands means that the thief is in need of an assistant. When the local thieves see these they draw another figure of the same kind close to it giving secret directions as to where he will find a lodging and companions. The day-light thief is called a 爬兒 pa êrh, the night worker 黑腦殼 hei nao-k‘o, black head. Pickpockets are known as p‘a ko êrh 抓哥兒, lao chua 老抓 or shua êrh 刷兒, hung p‘an p‘an 紅盤盤, hung lao piao 紅老表 red-haired cousin, etc. The burglar who opens partitions 割壁 ko pi, carries a pair of strong scissors, and thus bamboo and lime partitions are easily taken out. Once inside the house he soon tears open the doors and prepares a way of escape. Even the dogs seem to have a wholesome fear of this class and dare not bark till after they have gone. A troublesome dog is poisoned by giving it human hair chopped very fine and rolled inside meat or fish. This seems to be fatal, as the animal can neither digest the dose nor vomit it.
The art of the horse, pig and ox stealer is called t‘ai mên 擡門, lifting the door. He carries, besides his fuse and other weapons, a tube of water which is poured into the wooden hinges of the door to keep them from squeaking. When a pig is the object of theft it is given hua chiao 花椒 or red pepper; this benumbs its mouth so that it cannot squeal, and is thus more easily carried out of the place. When an ox is stolen, as soon as it is outside the door, a man takes hold of each horn and another takes the tail; the man behind pricks the ox with a goad, making it run furiously and heedless of all obstacles away from the house. Horses are taken off in a similar manner. In stealing ducks or chickens the necks are seized and tied; while cats are put in a sack.
Thieves are naturally very superstitious. Many of them carry on their person the wooden image of a dog with an iron band round its nose, to keep it from barking or biting, as dogs are their chief fear and natural enemy. They are very much afraid of any combination of words having fan 飯 and fa 髮 in them. Even to eat rice is known by them as ch‘ao fên tzŭ 𢴿粉子. Their chief object is to avoid detection; one might almost say that the only sin is the loss of face on being caught. They also have a superstitious dread of the following words: ti chu 抵注 to get up against; ch‘uang tao 撞到 to knock against, and k‘ung shou 空手 empty-handed: a thief if he enters a house will do all in his power to carry something away with him, however small, as it is most unlucky for him to leave empty-handed; ma tzŭ, 馬子, an enemy: the master of the house is the natural enemy of the thief; liang 亮, light: their works being evil they hate the light. Each clique has a particular call by which it is known; some mew like a cat, others blow a bamboo whistle; others have a call like wu hu, while others have a song. Any householder hearing these sounds close by gives a warning to his household, and calls out for the thief to come in and he will give him a "light for his pipe;" with the mention of light the thief very often departs. In entering a tea shop they call for water, not for boiling water or hot water as other people do, as these expressions are used by them to indicate that trouble is coming. They also hate the words pu shun shou 不順手, that is, it won't come to hand. They also fear pu tui t‘ou 不對頭 or unsuitable. The number four is never used by them as it is the same sound as 'trouble.' So on the 3rd and 4th of each month, also on the 14th and 24th they cease their depredations. Owing to the light of the moon, little or no work of their kind is done from the 3rd to the 16th of each moon, but with the exception of the 24th they go on almost unceasingly from that time to the end of the month. The thief also dreads the character ch‘ieh 截, to to cut off, fearing that his head will be sliced off.
In carrying on his depredations whatever comes into his hand is reckoned to be his rightful property; but if a thief has got no stolen property in his possession it is impossible to impeach him; the saying runs 盜賊無贜硬如鐵樁 'a thief with no stolen property is hard as an iron bar,' and he will no brook any aspersion on his character. The saying also runs 拿賊要拿贜拿姦要拿雙 'catching a thief, catch his stolen property; catching adulterers, catch the pair.' No greater insult can be thrown at any family than to say that they are nan tao nü ch‘ang 男盜女娼, the males thieves and the women harlots.
This class of men much resent another person putting their feet on the end of a stool while they are still sitting on it; the fear being that they will be locked up and made to sit down. They also resent anyone taking hold of the pipe while they are smoking, or taking hold of their queue while they are walking. They also fear any one standing on the bed to dress, or tilting any article on its side to get anything out, or lifting up the basin with the vegetables in it to pour some gravy over their rice.