After Qin Shihuang attacked and destroyed the six countries and unified the world, he became emperor on his own, and asked Prime Minister Reese to make a decree and write a letter with the wall of Heshi. Ordered by heaven, both longevity Yongchang? Eight seal characters. The slogan of divine right of monarchy is based on the transmission of seals; Those who get the decree win the world, and those who get the decree have no decree, which is unorthodox, at least without the legitimacy of theocracy. In 936 AD, Li Congke, the emperor of the later Tang Dynasty, set himself on fire in Luoyang because he could not resist the attack of Shi Jingtang and Liao army, and the imperial seal was also destroyed in the self-immolation.

In 206 BC, Liu Bang entered the suburb of Xianyang, and Zi Ying, king of Qin, surrendered to Liu Bang with an imperial edict. Xiang Yu named Liu Bang Hanwang, but did not accept the imperial edict. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the imperial seal was always owned by the emperor and became a symbol of imperial power. In 65438+February 10, AD 220, Cao Pi forced Xian Di in the Han Dynasty to meditate and handed the imperial seal to Wei. After the rulers replaced Wei, the national seal was owned by the rulers. After the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the imperial seal was owned by the Southern Dynasties. In 588 AD, the Sui Dynasty conquered the State of Chen in the Southern Dynasty, obtained the imperial seal and gained the orthodox status.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, there was chaos in the world. Xiao Huanghou fled to Turkey with the imperial seal and Emperor Yangdi Yang Zhengdao, and settled in Dingxiang. In 630 AD, Emperor Taizong sent Li Jing to attack and destroy East Turkistan, welcomed Xiao Huanghou back to Beijing, and sent the imperial seal back to the Tang Dynasty. After the demise of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial seal was circulated in the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries, and finally passed on to Li Congke, the emperor of the later Tang Dynasty. On 26th, 936 1 1, Li Congke saw that the tide had gone, so he took the imperial edict, Empress Cao, Empress Liu and their son Li Zhongmei to the Xuanwu Building and set himself on fire and died. After the death of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial edict disappeared.

After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, there was no national decree, but it inherited two seals and one volume from the Emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty? The emperor's godsend? , a "the emperor's treasure". After that, many emperors made their own jade seals. Although they were discovered, they were all forged. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was a clamor for "state decrees", but they were all copied. For example, during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty, someone once presented the so-called "jade seal", which was considered as a fake by Emperor Xiaozong and was not used.