Although the Xiaoyuan congshu pref. speaks of a handbook on the Code and judicial practice, only the first part (titled Li’an jianming 例案簡明) concerns this domain; it dicusses forensics, the Code, procedural issues, as well as a variety of crimes. The second part (Xuezhi shulüe 學治述略) consists of general instructions for beginning magistrates in the form of short untitled paragraphs. The Xiaoyuan ed. also includes two texts by intendant Liu Moyuan 劉默園, titled Nibing wuze 擬稟五則 (a set of rather general recommendations for magistrates) and Yangbu bibu zhangcheng 養捕比捕章程 (regulations concerning the runners entrusted with catching lawbreakers; this last written as magistrate of Pinghu 平湖), as well as five administrative texts by He Gengsheng (two proclamations, two communications to the governor, and the internal regulations of his office) under the general title Guanjian oucun 管見偶存. Twelve articles on famine relief from a Huangzheng quanshu 荒政全書, the regulations of an orphanage (育嬰堂), and a “Song of exhortation and warning” (勸戒歌) attributed to one Ding Lisheng 丁麗生, magistrate of Zhangzi 長子 (Shanxi), are appended. In the Meishou tang ed. all these materials (which total more pages than the text proper) feature as front matter. He Gengsheng was obviously an experienced magistrate. In his own pref. he claims that he reads books on government whenever he has time and asks samples of their administrative documents from the colleagues he happens to meet. His colleague Peng Yunwen’s pref. (which provides details of He’s career) states that the work is simple and easy to put in practice, and that it is a perfect guide for beginning officials. For some reason, Peng’s pref. is dated 1842 in the Meishou tang and Chongwen shuju eds., 1843 in the Xiaoyuan eds.