'A. classical instance of the genuity at times practised to help the cotise of some person or other is contained in a despatch from the Famous Tseng Kuo-fan who had a favourite general named Pao Chai whom he wished to recommend for promotion in spite of the fact that he had suffered defeat in every gagement he had taken part in. The Words used were:—"Li chan li pal, Li pal li chan™ (in every engagement. hho suffered defeat, though he suffered defeat he still fought on). Such a skilful play on the words "li chan" and "Il pai" could not fall to appeal to such artistes in literary expression as the Chinese, and accounted for the Promotion of a hitherto unsuccessful Perhaps even more ingenious, though certainly less worthy, was the effort made by a yamen secretary who reported on the trial of a notorious bandit charged with forcibly entering end robbing the house of a Well-to-do family. Though it was proved that the accused had entered the house by the front door, no mention was made of this in the report, and it was actually stated that the Supposed bandit was no more than a petly thief as he had entered the Premises by a drain pipe.
Perhaps the most famous of all secretaries was one known as Wu Helen-sheng (Me, Wu) who worked for Tien Wen-chin, maternal uncle of Emperor Jung Cheng. His clever~ ess and ingenuity were such that argoly through his efforts Tien rose to great power, but he did not fully appreciate the services of his retainer until they had a quarrel and Wu went into retirement, From then on everything went wrong with the affairs of the great minister, and he was compelled to make peace with Wu, whom he discovered was indispensable to him. Wu, however, refused to go back except on his own terms which were truly astounding, but which were accepted by the now thoroughly repentent Tien. He demanded a salary of 50 taels a day, which was to be paid daily, while he would work only four hours a day. and have full freedom in his leisure time.
He Insisted that his demands should bbe properly carried out, and one day when his daily payment was delayed he refused fo work until it was forthcoming. The struggle between the Powerful minister and. his famous secretary greatly intrigued the court, and one day the Emperor. aller approving a despatch intended for Tion, ded with is own hand the words von hao, Wu hsien sheng yeh hao." which may be translated "Tam wel T hope that Mr. Wu is also well' This unique honour must surely place Wu amongst the great men of his time.
"The employment of special secretaries for the writing of documents and letters 1s not confined to government offes but Is prevalent throughout the whole country, and these Important persons are' found even In the compradores' offers of foreign firms. Some of them are highly trained men while others are little more than copyists who transcribe with great weare and accuracy the Grafis handed to them from the secretariat,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.