Why was it illegal to kill donkeys in Tang Dynasty? Why is the donkey in such a high position?

Donkeys were important productive animals in ancient times. The law prohibiting the killing of donkeys in Tang Dynasty was made to improve people's protection of donkeys. First of all, the donkey is a rare animal. In ancient times, the donkey was actually a very rare animal. This kind of animal is a hybrid and cannot be born directly. Therefore, in ancient times, owning a donkey meant that the family had the conditions to produce donkeys and received special protection. At the same time, due to some characteristics of donkeys, people prefer to keep donkeys rather than horses or cows.

Second, donkeys that can pull grain were valued in ancient times because they had some advantages over other animals. For example, it is better to let the donkey pull the grain. First of all, the cost of raising horses is too high, and the food eaten is several times that of donkeys. Secondly, horses are not very useful. In addition to pulling grain, they are more used to camel people, unlike donkeys, which can also be ground. Of course, donkeys have another use, that is, donkeys can also be used to plow fields. As we all know, generally speaking, the ancients used cows to plow the fields, but donkeys can also come in handy. So on the whole, donkeys are still very useful, and the cost of raising them is not high, so donkeys are good helpers of the ancients.

Traditionally, killing donkeys is not allowed. There are actually two kinds of sayings about killing donkeys. One is that the ancients thought killing donkeys was disrespectful to heaven. As a hybrid animal, people think it is a gift from God and a good symbol. If the benefits God gives them are stifled, it will cause natural disasters, which is unlucky. Therefore, in ancient times, the status of donkeys was very high, even more cherished than cattle.

Another way of saying it is that in the royal family, people think it is derogatory to kill the donkey and remove the grinding. If someone kills a donkey, it shows that he is prone to treachery and is a man of bad faith. Therefore, people will not choose to kill donkeys unless they have to. The Tang dynasty banned the killing of donkeys.