Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 3/Followers of the Yamen
Followers of the Yamen
There is a clear distinction between those who belong to the yamen and those who follow the official.
The bureau of civil affairs, li fang (吏房), attends to salaries and scholars' appointments, and keeps a list of graduates in the district and of those eligible for higher examinations.
It notifies the Imperial court when a scholar has attended all examinations till he is sixty years old ; a degree is then given him, and if he goes on till he is eighty, he will receive a yellow riding-jacket and a dragon-headed walking-stick.
The bureau of revenue and population, hu fang (戶房), gathers taxes, counts the families and registers headmen. It gets a commission on the sale of property.
The bureau of rites, li fang (禮房). All cases of broken contracts, divorces, seduction, kidnapping, etc., come to this office. It also keeps a list of scholars without degrees.
The military bureau, ping fang (兵房), attends to enlistment, drilling and feeding of soldiers, the housing of troops on the march, the arming and conduct of militia and the quarrels and lawsuits of the soldiery.
The bureau of works, kung fang (工房), looks after the city wall and gates and all public buildings and attends to disputes about boundaries and graveyards.
The granary bureau, ts‘ang fang (倉房), is responsible for the public granaries, the buying and selling of rice and its distribution in time of famine or siege.
The tea and salt bureau, yen ch‘a fang (鹽茶房). The trade is a monopoly in each city and the bureau looks after the revenue from this source.
The punishments bureau, hsing fang (刑房), attends to litigation about deaths by violence; the wu tso (仵作), is officially attached to it.
The litigation registry bureau, ch‘êng fa fang (承發房), records all the indictments, etc., and is responsible for indictments passing up into the magistrate's hands.
The interpretation bureau, i ch‘ing fang (夷情房), only exists in frontier districts, where the aboriginal tribes make it necessary.