There is a mention in the text (2/31a-b) of an event that occurred in Shandong in the 1590s—the murder by a disgruntled gatekeeper of a Jining 濟寧 department vice-magistrate after the latter had been promoted to Linqing 臨清 department magistrate. This fits the career of Han Bangyu 韓邦域 (b. 1564, js. 1586), who served in the late 1590s; so the present text was written no earlier than then. (See Linqing ZZ [1673], 1/52b, and Jining ZZ [1673], 4/34b.) Some of the materials are borrowed from earlier handbooks, viz. Juguan geyan (q.v.) and the two handbooks in Xinguan guifan (q.v.), or possibly the work shares a common source with them. However, these materials have been edited and supplemented, making the work one of the most concrete and detailed on the practical aspects of late-Ming local administration. There are seven sections (類), each composed of a succession of untitled paragraphs. The first section, “Beginning service” (初仕類), deals with appointment at the capital and assumption of office. The other sections discuss the various tasks of local government, with much detail on the procedures to follow and an insistence on the right attitude, namely, prudence, restraint, and the respect of established rules. They are arranged according to the six traditional domains of government (j. 2).