A NOTICE OF THE SANON DISTRICT
121
I may here be permitted to hint to foreigners, that much mischief is often done by an indiscrete throwing away of money among the people. The most important of the charitable establishments are those ancient institutions, the "Kuk-tsong"-Imperial granaries; but these, like the rest, are much abused. In these, rice is stored up against times of famine, when they are opened, and their stock distributed to the needy. According to the “Sanon-che,” there should be two of these Imperial granaries in the provinces, - one at Sanon, containing 20,660 piculs of rice, and the other at Tai-pung, containing 1,700 piculs; but even this benevolent institution is made, by the avarice of the mandarins, more a burden to the people than a means of relieving their necessities. The small quantity which is stored up is generally consumed by vermin, and nothing is left for the indigent in times of scarcity.
A small public Library exists at the residence of the district mandarin; the books it contains have been presented to the province by different emperors, and consist chiefly of Commentaries on the Classics, or Treatises on Ethics. They are intended for the instruction of the people; but as it would be inconvenient to allow the people in general free access to them, it is ordered that the mandarin should assemble the people on certain days, and read and explain the contents of these books to them. For the last twenty years, at any rate, no mandarin has, to my knowledge, attempted the performance of these duties; and as the collection is but poorly cared for, the worms alone derive any advantage from it.
At Sanon there is a school for pupils intending to take a degree at Canton; one teacher of this school receives his salary from government. Essays are sent in and examined by the teachers, and those whose essays are the best, are admitted members of the college, and receive a small allowance of money for the purchase of oil and firewood as a stimulant to more zealous studies. These, being the most distinguished scholars, have more hope of obtaining a degree at the public examinations than the rest have. It is reckoned a distinction to receive this allowance, and many of its recipients are well off. Many persons are only connected with this institution by having sent in essays, and have never studied there. This, like all the other government establishments, is subject to many abuses, and the successful essays are often not written by their pretended authors, but by some literary character who thus...