Lee Chum Foon and the official duties of a "Tamfa"

[Ken Cheng]

In imperial Chinese society, "tamfa" is an honorific title, but it's also a post in the government bureaucracy, which means it comes with certain official duties/responsibilities. It is not an inherited noble title, but an office earned by achieving the third highest score on the imperial civil service examination.

Lee Chum Foon was frequently addressed as "Lee Tamfa," but throughout SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN, RUTHLESS SWORD, we never saw him carry out any official duties as a tamfa. We saw him drink, moon over his complicated relationship with Lam See Yam and Lung Siu Wan, and get into wulin disputes with his notorious flying dagger, but never put in a day's work as a tamfa. Did he ever actually do anything in his official government post, or did he take the stereotype of the useless government bureaucrat to a ridiculous extreme?

[tape]

I think it might have been one of the big Shaolin monks, but Li said he retired from the post after they wrote some piece criticizing him and/or the government. My guess is he actually did do some government duties, but he didn't care too much for them.

Edit:Here's the relevant passage, while he is holding Xin Shu hostage in Shaolin:

Li Xun Huan looked at his wine cup, then also sighed. “To be honest, I didn’t expect you to be the one to save me this time.”

Xin Shu said, “I didn’t save you.”

Li Xun Huan said, “Fourteen years ago, I resigned from my government post, although the official reason is because I was tired of being in politics, the reality is, if you hadn’t written that scripture saying that I have dirty dealings with bandits, my mind would not have been so set.”

Xin Shu closed his eyes, then said, “The old power-hungry Hu Yun Ji has long died, why do you bring him up again?”

[daydreamer_gal]

Not really related to the topic, but when I was re-reading the translation recently, it suddenly dawned on me why pple referred to Li Xunhuan as Xiao Li Tanhua, apart from from it being a typical Chinese way of addressing a guy. It was mentioned that he had an elder brother, and both this elder brother as well as his father were also Tanhuas.. So it might have been to differentiate between all these Li Tanhuas?