264 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



poses, after the circuit, is the province. 

 Over each province an officer presides 

 with the title of governor (sun-fu), and 

 his official residence is in the chief 

 city of the province, which then is 

 known as the provincial capital. There 

 are several officials under the governor 

 and whose duties are carefully prescribed, 

 but the shooter will have nothing to do 

 with these officials, but go direct to the 

 governor, should the urgency of his business 

 justify appealing to such a high officer, 

 and there may arise occasions when the 

 appeal is necessary. The several officials, 

 as many as five, referred to, together with 

 the governor as the head, form the bureau 

 of provincial administration. As the dis- 

 trict magistrate is the last connecting link 

 between the throne and the people, so the 

 governor is the essential link between the 

 central and the administrative system. 



And there is another fact which proves 

 the influence of the governor, for up to 

 about three hundred years ago he was the 

 officer of highest rank in a province, and 

 practically supreme therein. But sub- 

 sequently two or more provinces have been 

 united under the executive authority of an 



