Up to now, more than a dozen different versions of the story "Beating a Mouse" have been found in Han areas of China (refer to 2009). Its wide spread and the discovery of a large number of dead kiln sites show that the "barbaric" custom of "abandoning the old" was really popular in ancient China. Its existence is determined by the extremely low level of productivity in ancient times. In primitive society, people need to make extremely hard efforts to survive, and only by maintaining their own survival can we ensure the continuation of ethnic groups. Because of this, people are often "desperate for their lives" and have to "abandon the old for the new" or send them to the "death kiln" to commit suicide. This custom was not only unreasonable at that time, but also in the primitive society where food was scarce and living conditions were extremely bad, it was the moral responsibility of society to kill unproductive members. According to relevant data, there are probably three reasons for abandoning the old customs: in the era of fishing, hunting and gathering, firstly, because the production level is low, food shortage is the biggest threat to human survival, and there is no surplus product to feed the exhausted elderly; Secondly, at that time, society was in a state of ignorance, and human beings accumulated little knowledge and experience. After the elderly lose their healthy physique of asking for ready-made food from nature, they become a collective burden; At the same time, the life style of people living in the wild with clan as the unit at that time caused difficulties in providing for the aged.