Thus Fuhshan is a very large commercial town or mart called a _chin_, situated in the district of Nanhai, of the department of Kwangchau, about twelve miles distant from Canton. The chief officer of the department has therefore an assistant residing there, and the town is partly under his government and partly under that of the Nanhai magistrate, within whose district it is included, but who resides at Canton. There are several of these _chin_ in the provinces, as Kingteh in Kiangsí, Siangtan in Hunan, etc.; they are not inclosed by walls. Macao affords another instance: being a place of some importance, both from its size and as the residence of foreigners, an assistant to the Hiangshan hien magistrate is placed over it, and it is also under the control of an assistant to the chief magistrate of the _fu_. Of these assistant magistrates, there are two ranks secondary to the chief magistrate of a _fu_, two secondary to the magistrate of a _chau_, and two also secondary to the magistrate of a _hien_. The places under the rule of these assistant magistrates are called by various names, most frequently _chin_ and _so_, and sometimes also _chai_ and _wei_. These names do not appear to have reference to any particular form of municipal government existing in them; but the _chai_ and the _wei_ are often military posts; and sometimes a place is, with respect to its civil government, the chief city of a _fu_, while with respect to its military position it is called _wei_. There are other towns of still smaller importance; these are under the government of inferior magistrates who are called _siun kien_: a division of country under such a magistrate is called a _sz’_, which is best represented by the term township or _commune_. The town of Whampoa and country around it form one such division, called Kiautang sz’, belonging to the district of Pwanyu, in the department of Kwangchau. “In the mountainous districts of Kwangsí, Yunnan, Kweichau, and Sz’chuen, and in some other places, there are districts called _tu sz’_. Among these, the same distinctions of _fu_, _chau_, and _hien_ exist, together with the minor division _sz’_. The magistrates of these departments and districts are hereditary in their succession, being the only hereditary local officers acknowledged by the supreme government. “There is a larger division than any of the above, but as it does not prevail universally, it was not mentioned in the first instance. It is called _tau_, a _course_ or _circuit_, and comprises two or more departments of a province, whether _fu_, or independent _ting_ or _chau_. These circuits are subject to the government of officers called _tau-tai_ or intendants of circuit, who often combine with political and judicial powers a military authority and various duties relating to the territory or to the revenue.”[28]