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Unless otherwise specified, the descriptions of sources in this section are extracted from Pierre-Etienne Will and collaborators, Handbooks and Anthologies for Officials in Imperial China: A Descriptive and Critical Bibliography, 2 vols., Leiden: Brill, 2020
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Description
documentTypeBook
TitleWaiguan xinren jiyao 外官新任輯要 [Essentials for Newly Appointed Local Officials]
Topic4.1 Magistrates handbooks: General
Historical periodLate Qing (1797-1911)
CountryChinese
AuthorAnonymous
CollectionGuanzhen shu jicheng 官箴書集成
Number of volume6
Publication typeWoodblock
Comment

Contrary to what is suggested by the title, found in the library catalog but appearing nowhere in the book, the work is aimed not at new officials, but at their servants (長隨). The content is based on the various books for officials and for private servants that circulated in administrative circles. It is in fact extremely close to Piantu lun or Changsui xuzhi (qq.v.). It includes sections on what must be checked by the newly arrived official—including a long checklist entitled “Things to do after receiving one’s seals” (接印後事宜)—as well as rules regarding the duties of the gate-keeper (管門執帖事), signatures (簽押條款), judicial and fiscal affairs, special assignments (承辦差務), the management of prisons, kitchens, granaries, and so on, a long itemized list of rules on “using seals” (用印), an enumeration of the different registers and logbooks (簿) (分別掛號), and much more. Some entries (e.g., on judicial and fiscal affairs) are no more than lists of terms and phrases. Two topics do not appear in any other handbook for servants: special assignments to manage salt affairs (鹽政專管) and to manage boats (船政專管). The model proclamations mention either “Daoguang” or “Xianfeng” as the reign-period. (The present compilation must have been assembled later, during Tongzhi or Guangxu.) There is also a model letter to invite a muyou to join the official’s staff. The last entry in the first fasc. is a comparatively long “Address on the tasks at the gate” (諭門務), implying that the servant in that position must possess the talents and knowledge of a yamen general secretary. The second fasc. contains, among other things, several sets of instructions, all titled dalüe xuzhi 大略須知, explanations of the duties of each of the yamen bureaus (房), and considerations on the dignity and respectable origins of the status of changsui, similar to those found in other such handbooks (see previous entries). Despite some repetition and a rather disorderly layout, the text is relatively free of wording errors.

SubjectLaw
LanguageChinese
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