we see the beginnings of vanity in wang lung with the beggar, explain/

Wang Lung is pleased to be standing among poor men, especially looking as he did. He was well dressed, neat and clean..... the beggar's words made him feel superior.

It was a place for poor men, and among them he looked neat and clean and almost well-to-do, so that a beggar passing, whined at him:

'Have a good heart, teacher, and give me a small cash — I starve!'

Wang Lung had never had a beggar ask of him before, nor had any even called him "teacher". He was pleased and he threw into the beggar's bowl two small cash, which are one-fifth of a penny, and the beggar pulled back with swiftness his black claw of a hand, and grasping the cash, fumbled them within his rags.