The social and political status of assistant and subaltern officials (佐貳 and 雜職, respectively) in the Qing local bureaucracy was rather low. One reason was their lack of power and total subordination to the seal-holding officials; another, especially from the mid-Qing onwards, was that a majority had acquired their positions through contributions to the government (“eight or nine out of ten,” says the author’s pref.—and yet they are even closer to the people than the magistrates). Zuoza pu is a compilation of sayings and deeds by previous authors—including famous men who were not ashamed to start in subaltern positions—and historical considerations (in particular on the positions of zuoza in the Ming), enriched with commentaries; it was composed to compensate for the lack of proper handbooks comparable to the classic works intended for magistrates, and to bolster the self-esteem and dedication of zuoza and enhance their position, something that the author seems to take very much at heart in his pref. The material is arranged by positions from chief secretary of the Administration Commission (布政司經歷) down to postmaster (驛丞). The work opens with “general considerations” (總論) including considerations about zuoza by former luminaries. At the time of composition the author was an expectant department assistant prefect (州同)—so, as he stresses in his pref., a zuoer—in Sichuan. At the beginning are endorsements by Sichuan governor-general Liu Bingzhang 劉秉璋 and other provincial authorities, to whom Li had submitted his text, as well as letters from several intendants acknowledging receipt of Li’s Zuoza pu and other books, viz. his Jiaoguan pu 教官譜 and Shengyu zhengshi 聖諭徵事. The 1899 author’s pref. recounts his repeated attempts to have the work published, showing or sending copies of the manuscript to various superior officials who eventually did nothing despite their admiring comments (see the rescripts and letters reproduced before the prefs.).