What does "it's easy to invite gods but hard to send them away" mean?

This is a common saying among the people. It originally means that you have invited a god to your home and worshiped it properly. Gradually, the god has become accustomed to it and it is difficult to send him away. Later it was extended to mean that it is easy to invite someone or a certain force in, but it is difficult to send him out.

A typical example of "it is easy to invite gods but difficult to send them away" is during the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty. In order to quell the rebels of An Lushan and Shi Siming, but its own military strength was insufficient, the central government invited ethnic minorities from the north. Uighur troops came to help quell the rebellion. Ethnic minorities see China's huge profits and are happy to come.

But after the rebels were pacified, they were unwilling to return to the north. Reach out to the Tang Dynasty to ask for money, food, military expenses, women, etc.

However, because the Tang Dynasty had just been exhausted by the Anshi Rebellion, it was unable to meet the unreasonable demands of this army. As a result, the Uighur soldiers bloodbathed Chang'an again, killing less and looting, leaving the Tang Dynasty's capital in a state of chaos. , the emperor also had to flee again. This story is to warn the world that some people and forces should not easily ask for help unless absolutely necessary, for fear of causing more trouble.

Extended information

The special relationship between the Uighurs and the Tang government first manifested itself in the fact that the Uighurs helped the Tang pacify the Anshi Rebellion and resist the Tubo attack on the Western Regions.

After the "Anshi Rebellion" broke out in 755, due to the lack of strength of the central government, the Tang government had to borrow troops from abroad to quell the rebellion. As a neighbor of the Tang Dynasty, the Uighurs did not take advantage of this chaotic situation to expand the territory of Tang Dynasty. Instead, at the request of the Tang government, they sent large armies three times in 756, 757, and 762 to help the Tang quell the rebellion and regain Chang'an, Luoyang, Hebei and other places contributed to the reconstruction of the Tang Dynasty.

In return, in addition to generous rewards, the Tang government also stipulated that Tang silk should be used to buy back He horses, thus starting a long-term silk horse trade between the two sides. In addition to helping the Tang Dynasty put down the Anshi Rebellion, Uighurs also, with the support of the Tang government, united with the Anxi and Beiting Protectorates to jointly resist Tibet's attack on the Western Regions, and once reopened the east-west land transportation that had been cut off by Tubo after the Anshi Rebellion.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Uighur