According to ancient records, the appearance of official seal can be traced back to the Yao and Shun era more than 4,000 years ago. Regarding the origin of the official seal, there is a record in the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Han Dynasty: According to legend, Yao and Qiu Shun were swimming in the boat, and suddenly a phoenix flew in front of them and handed Yao the books they carried with them. This book is packed in a ruby box, which is three feet long and eight inches wide. Topaz is placed on it, tied with a rope, sealed with mud at both ends, and stamped with the seal of "Tian Fu". This shows that the seal originally appeared as a symbol of power.
The Qin Dynasty formed a relatively complete official seal system. From the prime minister Qiu to the county magistrate, the monarch granted the official seal when he was appointed, and at the same time distributed a ribbon worn on the seal buckle, called "ribbon", so that it could always be worn on his body.
At the end of the Qin dynasty, there was chaos in the world. Xiang Liang commanded Xiang Yu to draw out a sword and cut off Yintong's head, then appointed himself as the new chief, and ordered the counties to "take eight thousand chosen men". This system of taking seals as officials and recognizing seals but not people was inherited by the Han Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhu Maichen, who was too poor to support his wife, was suddenly appointed as the guardian of Huiji County, his hometown. When he returned to the Beijing Office in Huiji County where he stayed, officials still regarded him as a poor man and ignored him until they found him "in shock" with a seal in his arms, and immediately lined up and bowed down together. The inheritance of this concept makes "taking the big seal" and "taking the seal" become synonymous with being in power.
Another feature of ribbon printing system is to distinguish official ranks by casting materials and ribbon color. For example, the prime minister of the Han dynasty, Qiu, was a first-class official, with gold and silver ribbons; There are more than 2,000 stones in the empire, and silver is clear; More than 600 stones, bronze seals and black ribbons; More than 200 stones, bronze seals and yellow ribbons. From the Jin Dynasty, ribbon printing was changed to ribbon printing. Ribbons are printed in leather, put in the official seal and tied around the waist to distinguish official ranks by embroidery.
Liu worked as a village official when he was young, but he also had a small seal of "five taels of nylon, half taels of copper". The so-called "semi-pass" is relative to "all-pass": in China's system, all official seals over 200 stones are "official seals", that is to say, they have the legal effect of giving orders, and "semi-pass" is understood as having half the legal effect. As a result, Liu Bangling wore a graceful "semi-copper" of Surabaya around his waist, swinging from side to side, which was quite impressive.
It took a long time for the official seal to become the official seal of an administrative organ without individual level.
At that time, people's understanding of official seal was official seal, not official seal. The seal is worn by officials and can be taken away unless it should be taken back for reasons such as violation of the law or dismissal. When the central government awards a new official due to a vacancy in an official position, it usually casts a new seal, so the writing on the official seal cannot be unified for a long time.
It was not until the Southern Dynasties and the Song Dynasty that this way of giving and receiving one official and one seal was questioned by prime ministers Zuo Cheng and Kong Lin. He said that because the imperial seal of the emperor and the prince was handed down from generation to generation, it did not make people doubt whether they were qualified to exercise power. Why do humble officials have to wear seals? Emperor Wu of Song Wudi is famous for advocating frugality, so he adopted this suggestion. At that time, the "iron flowing water official" and the official seal transfer system were gradually formed. This system has been in operation for a long time, which has brought a change in the world's concept, that is, the official seal is a token of the exercise of power by a certain level organ of a certain department, which conforms to the modern concept of "official seal", although it is still customary to use "chapter extraction" to refer to the dismissal of officials.
Following this new idea, the establishment of a more complete official seal system should be said to have occurred in the Tang Dynasty. An example is this: When Sima Lun, the king of Zhao, proclaimed himself emperor in the Western Jin Dynasty, in order to "please the people's hearts", all the students who applied for examinations in civil and military disciplines such as Xian Fangzheng Xiao,/kloc-students over 6 years old, and officials from various counties and counties who came to Beijing on business were given official titles without trial, and countless officials gave seals. "Gold and silver are cast without printing", so we have to use woodcut seals instead.
However, when the political system was established in the early Tang Dynasty, Shangshu Province, as the highest executive organ of the central government, only the Ministry of General Affairs (called the capital province or the capital hall) and officials and soldiers had seals, and other ministries and departments used Shangshu Province's seals to issue official business. Because the official seal only represents the power of the government, not the official position, even senior officials such as left and right servants, assistant ministers and doctors do not wear the official seal. It was not until Wu Zetian came to power and strengthened the system reform and the administrative independence of various departments that the Twenty-fourth Division of Shangshu Province was printed separately.
Similar situations exist in other departments. In Tang Dezong, Xue Zhiyu was appointed as an admonition officer. He was a senior official of Zhengsi under the China Book School. Because it is not a first-level administrative agency, it does not print letters. Xue reported to the emperor on the grounds of secrecy: "All secrets are kept, and there is the seal of the admonisher. Every time a letter enters, it must be printed by the two provinces of Menxia and Zhongshu. Every time there is a seal, people are prophets. Please don't cast the imperial seal, and don't leak. " This sounds like reaching for power, and it also contains the meaning of independence in the same book. Soon after, this person was transferred to Central University as an assistant to the president (Guo Zi Branch).
Since Dezong, the internal reference was kept secret, and its authority increased, so it was called "internal phase", which finally formed a pattern of "internal system" and "external system" with China calligraphers. As a symbol, it was printed separately in imperial academy in the early years of Xianzong. It took a long time for the official seal to become the official seal of an administrative organ without individual level. Since then, the troubles of administrative pluralism and overlapping functions have been greatly reduced.
All kinds of official seals are everywhere. As long as someone dares to act rashly, it is difficult to tell the truth from the false.
When it comes to the specifications of official seals, there is also a sorting process from clutter to neatness. In the official seal of the Warring States period in the Ancient Seal Collection, the side length of one seal numbered 0007 is only two and a half centimeters, while the side length of another seal numbered 0227 is three centimeters. Looking at the two official seals of Han Dynasty in Mud Seal Collection, it is found that not only the low-level official seal is much larger than the high-level official seal, but also its surface shape is "a hundred flowers blossom", some are extremely square, some are approximately rectangular, some have curved corners, and some are round and oval. It is estimated that most of them are printed according to the material, and what kind of surface will be made when a piece of material is caught.
As for the writing of the seal and the arrangement of the left branch or the right branch, it is also varied and there is no chapter to follow. When the whole appears, it can be distinguished from each other in terms of gold and silver materials, blue and black colors, etc., but once it is reflected in the official document in the form of a seal, if it is not very familiar, confusion is inevitable.
Jia Yi's "Public Security Policy" revealed that counterfeiters defrauded the state treasury of nearly 100,000 grains, collected more than 6 million taxes, and defrauded counties and counties with official cars, which should be said to have a lot to do with these printing defects. In the case that all kinds of official seals are everywhere, and even the official seals used by people who have left or died still exist in the world, it is really not easy to tell the truth as long as someone dares to act rashly.
Since the Tang Dynasty, the official seal has been strictly controlled, and the printing specifications have tended to be fine. The seals of all departments are copper, and the printed body is square. In addition, the official seal also has a handle that is convenient for printing, the so-called "printing handle", which was also implemented at this time. The seals of all yamen in the Ming Dynasty were uniformly engraved by the Casting and Printing Bureau of the Ministry of Rites, and there were detailed regulations on casting and printing, exchange, identification and inspection. "Anyone who moves to Beijing in a foreign language must be sent to the Casting and Printing Bureau to verify the authenticity of his seal."
Of course, it can't be said that this will completely put an end to fraud. For example, in Chapter 19 of The Scholars, Zhejiang secretariat Pan offered a reward for helping the rich man rob and buy women, and asked Kuang to fabricate a Yueqing county decree for him. "There are many fake seals carved with dried tofu at home, which I can use." But these tricks can only be played at the grassroots level, and they take effect under the condition of internal and external collusion. It is not so easy to cheat in the capital with a casting and printing bureau that can distinguish authenticity.
When local officials report to Beijing, it will take several months for a mistake to be rejected and stamped again.
The careful setting and keeping of official seals has always been the top priority of laws and regulations. For example, according to the Xu Law of the Song Dynasty, the organ applied for a seal: "All lawsuits must be stamped, and a certain word should be used as the text, and then verified, and then collected from the official department of Shangshu." If a new seal needs to be replaced due to old damage, the old seal and the old seal will be destroyed on the same day, or the corner of the seal surface will be filed first and destroyed centrally. It is absolutely not allowed for the invalid official seal to appear intact in the world. The way to keep the official seal, in the era of one official and one seal in Qin, Han, Wei and Jin dynasties, was to carry it with you, accompanied by day and night. Since the Tang dynasty, it has been printed as the official seal of the organ and kept in the government.
There are also strict regulations on the use of official seals and responsible personnel. Take the "Tang Seal" under the door of Zhongshu in Tang Dynasty as an example. Any official document that needs to be printed must be examined and signed by the chief in charge, copied and proofread, and then audited by "Tangtou" (equivalent to the director of the general office of the government affairs hall). It can only be stamped after it is verified.
During the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, Li Jun was ordered to supervise grain in Qiantang County, Zhejiang Province. The local county magistrate is an insidious and cunning person, who intends to plot against Li Jun. Once, the county magistrate placed one of his confidants beside Li Jun as a servant, and the servant waited for an opportunity to steal the official seal. Only when Li Jun used the official seal in his office did he discover that it had been stolen. After careful consideration, he judged that the official seal was stolen with the county magistrate.
In order to get back the official seal, Li Jun's subordinates proposed to take someone to the county magistrate's office to search, but they immediately stopped him. Because this is a matter without conclusive evidence, if you make a fuss, it is likely to force the other party to hide the stolen goods deeper or simply bury them. Calm down, Li Jun is determined. He warmly invited the county magistrate to hold a banquet at home to celebrate. Just when they were familiar with wine, smoke rose in the courtyard, the servant called the police and the house caught fire. Mr. Li got up quickly, went into the Chamber of Secrets, took out Yin He and gave it to the magistrate. He shouted: "The official seal is important, please keep it properly and return it tomorrow. Now the important thing is to put out the fire ... "After that, the magistrate couldn't refuse, so he left to put out the fire.
Naturally, the fire and fire fighting were directed by Li Jun himself. Of course, the fire was not big, and it was quickly put out. While the magistrate of Yin He's house, who was held empty, was fidgeting. He stayed up all night and was in a dilemma. If the empty Yin He is returned tomorrow, it is hard to say that it was empty when it was accepted in Yin He. And if you lose the boss's official seal and can't afford it yourself, it will certainly harm the whole family. The magistrate became more and more afraid, so he had to put the official seal of Li Jun, which had just been stolen and premeditated, back to Yin He. The next day, he had to return the official seal carefully. The next morning, when I saw the restored and unscathed official seal in Yin He, the county magistrate of Li Junhe smiled at each other with a knowing smile.
Being so cautious will naturally meet the requirement of "sealing off its petty officials". Therefore, the official seal has gradually brought trouble to local offices. According to the regulations, every local government should send an accountant to the capital's household department to declare the local annual financial revenue and expenditure every year, and it can only be cancelled after the household department fully verifies the figures. If there are points, points, rises and fights in the money valley figures, then the whole financial statement will be rejected and re-created. It is not difficult to recreate the report. The difficult thing is that it must be stamped with the official seal of the original unit to be legal. Such a round trip will take months or even months to settle down. This not only increases the trouble of counting personnel running back and forth, but also affects the performance evaluation of local officials. The cumbersome procedures have gradually become the drawback of using a large number of official seals.