What is the meaning of "keeping thin horses" in ancient times?

Raising lean horses refers to the human flesh trade in Yangzhou in Ming Dynasty, which was a deformed industry in China in Ming and Qing Dynasties. First, invest to buy back beautiful girls from poor families, then adjust their studies, teach them singing and dancing, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and then sell them to rich people as concubines or enter Yanhua Lane for profit. Because poor women are so thin, the name "thin horse" comes from this.

Mr. Pan Honggang's article "The Custom of Raising Thin Horses in Yangzhou in Qing Dynasty" pointed out that there was a custom of raising thin horses in Yangzhou in Qing Dynasty, that is, "adopting girls from other families and selling them exclusively to large families". Pan Wen quoted Bai Juyi's poem "Don't raise thin horses, don't teach little prostitutes". At present, I don't believe you: Ma Fei is afraid of walking, and prostitutes can sing and dance. During the three and five years, have I heard of the new owner? "It is very expensive to adopt a daughter, just like feeding a thin pony. Yangzhou people are exquisite in literature and art, so they took the poems of ancient great poets and called them' keeping thin horses'. "

Extended data:

1, the popularity of "thin horse" is closely related to the economic development of Yangzhou. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a number of salt merchants emerged in Yangzhou. In Yangzhou city, people are singing and dancing and bustling. Rich people always like some weird and abnormal consumption and aesthetics. After their aesthetic fatigue of "big breasts and big hips", "thin horses" came into being.

2. The "thin horses" are mostly children of poor families. When I was seven or eight years old, I was bought by traffickers. After that, waiting for them is the long training period of the devil in the concentration camp. The "thin horse" is thin, not only because it is born weak, but also because it is deliberately "hungry". According to congenital conditions, "thin horse" is divided into three or six grades.