Seal: 1. The general term for public and private seals. 2. To refer to power or official position. The official seal, also known as the official seal in ancient times, is a token of the exercise of power, so it is also known as the "seal". In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it is used as a prop in many exciting plots: Guan Yunchang seals gold seals; Zhuge Liang begs for seals of orders; Sima Shi bites his head and fights for death in order to survive until his younger brother Sima Zhao drives away from Luoyang To, "pay it with a seal and ribbon" with your own hands... All of this can be said to be an image interpretation of its nature. The political organization of the Xia, Shang and Western Zhou dynasties was actually a ruling network composed of many aristocratic families with the royal family as the main body. The closeness of the blood relationship was the basis for the distribution and exercise of power, without any need for trust. Therefore, according to the author's opinion, the system of setting up officials and conferring seals probably only began to appear during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, that is, after the political organizations of various countries gradually opened up to the common people. "Mozi·Hao Ling" says, "Give him the seal and respect the official." The story of Su Qin wearing the seal of the six kingdoms is very popular. These historical records coincide with the fact that no official seals sealed with mud before the Warring States Period have been found. A relatively complete official seal system was formed in the Qin Dynasty. From the prime minister to the prefectural magistrate, the official seal was granted by the monarch at the time of appointment. At the same time, a ribbon, called a "ribbon", was issued to wear on the seal button, so that they could never leave. Wear it on your body. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the world was in chaos. Yin Tong, the governor of Kuaiji County, summoned Xiang Liang's uncle and nephew to discuss countermeasures. Xiang Liang commanded Xiang Yu to draw his sword and cut off Yin Tong's head, "wear his seal and ribbon", and then proclaimed himself the new county governor and issued orders to each county, "obtaining eight thousand elite soldiers." This system of holding an official position with a seal and a ribbon, and recognizing the seal but not the person, was inherited by the Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhu Maichen, who was so poor that he could not even support his wife, was suddenly appointed as the governor of his hometown of Kuaiji County. When he returned to the Beijing office of Kuaiji County where he was staying, the officials still treated him as a poor man. They ignored him, and when they found out that he was carrying a seal ribbon in his arms, he "sat in shock" and immediately lined up and knelt down together. The inheritance of this concept is that "holding the big seal" and "holding the seal handle" have become synonymous with being an official and holding power. Another feature of the sealing and ribbon system is that official ranks are distinguished by the printing material and the color of the ribbon. For example, in the Han Dynasty, the prime minister and Taiwei, a first-level official, had a gold seal and a purple ribbon; a censor and a doctor with more than 2,000 shi, a silver seal with a green ribbon; a 600 shi or more, a bronze seal with a black ribbon; and a 200 shi or more, a bronze seal with a yellow ribbon. Starting from the Jin Dynasty, the sealing ribbon system was changed to the sealing bag system. The ribbon bag was made of leather. After being filled with the official seal, it was worn around the waist. Official ranks were distinguished by embroidered threads. For example, in the system of the Northern Dynasties: gold threads for the second grade and above, gold and silver threads for the third grade. , fourth grade silver thread, fifth grade, sixth grade colorful thread, etc. In addition, sealing ribbons or sealing pouches are only given to officials who are in charge of affairs. Officials such as Guanglu doctor, doctor, doctor, etc., who are casual or promoted officials, although their rank is not low, do not have sealing ribbons. This is a rule set in the Han Dynasty. On the contrary, for example, when Liu Bang was a small official in the rural pavilion, he also had a small seal of "five taels of fiber, half of copper". The so-called "half-passage" is relative to "full-passage": in the Han system, all official seals of more than 200 stones are "all passable seals", which means they have the legal effect of issuing orders. "Half-passage" means "half-passage". It is understood as having half the legal effect. Therefore, Liu Bang wore a "half-through copper" from the Sishui pavilion on his waist and swung it back and forth, which was quite impressive. Official seals are also called seals because they are engraved with words, such as "the seal of the prime minister", "the seal of the imperial censor", etc. In addition, although the official seal was uniformly produced and awarded by the Yushitai, the writing on the seal was not consistent. During the reign of Emperor Guangwu, General Fubo Ma Yuan wrote to the emperor on this issue, citing the different writing styles of the word "Gao" on the three official seals of Chenggao County: the county magistrate, the county magistrate, and the county lieutenant. The word "gao" on the county magistrate's seal is Shang "White" means "sheep", the county magistrate means the upper "four" and the lower "sheep", the county captain means the upper "white" in the middle "ren" and the lower "sheep", "that is, a county magistrate, the seals are different, fearing that the world is not upright There are many. The talisman is a letter, so it should be the same" ("Huiyao of the Eastern Han Dynasty"). For this reason, he also specially recommended to the emperor "people who know ancient writing" to work in the Yushitai to sort out the seals of the county and state. However, as we can see from "Fengmu Compilation", this phenomenon still exists. It turns out that people at that time understood the official seal as the official seal, not the official seal. Seals and ribbons are worn by officials and can be taken away unless they are required to be confiscated for reasons such as breaking the law, dismissal from office, promotion, transfer, old age, illness or death. When the central government appoints a new official because a certain administrative official position is vacant, a new seal is usually cast, so the writing on the official seal cannot remain consistent for a long time. This method of conferring one official and one seal was not raised until the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, when Kong Lin, the minister Zuocheng, wrote to raise questions. He said that since the jade seals of emperors and princes have been handed down from generation to generation, it does not make people doubt whether they have the qualifications to exercise power. Why should ministers with low status have to wear seals and ribbons on their bodies? Moreover, "the cost of carving and casting all year round is lost, and the cost of gold, silver, copper and charcoal is indescribable. This is not the reason for following the old cost and simplifying the method. I would like to ask all the officials to use one seal without bothering to change it" ("Song Book") ·The Biography of Kong Lin"). Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty, Liu Yu, was famous for advocating frugality and adopted this advice. The system of "an iron-clad yamen and a flowing official" and the transfer of official seals were probably gradually formed from that time. This system has been in place for a long time and has brought about a conceptual change in the world. The official seal is a token of the exercise of power by a certain department or a certain level of agency. This is consistent with the modern concept of "official seal", although it is still customary Dismissal from office is referred to as "taking off the seal". Following this new concept, the establishment of a more complete official seal system should be said to have occurred in the Tang Dynasty.

Let's take an example for comparison: When Sima Lun, King Zhao of the Western Jin Dynasty, became emperor, in order to "please favors", all students who signed up to take the examination for being virtuous, square, filial, honest and good generals and other civil and military subjects and imperial students over 16 years old, as well as students from various prefectures Officials from the county who came to Beijing on business trips were exempted from examination, and countless officials were given seals. "Gold and silver were smelted, but no seals were given." In fact, woodcut seals had to be used to replace the scarce gold, silver, and copper materials. Public opinion There is a joke about "the prince of the blank slate" ("Jin Zhongxing Shu"). However, when the political system was established in the early Tang Dynasty, the Shangshu Province, as the highest executive organ of the central government, only had the general office (called the capital province or Dutang) and the two departments of officials and soldiers with seals. The other ministries and departments all issued letters with the seal of the Shangshu Province. Send for official business. Because the official seal only represents the power of the government, not the official position, even high-ranking officials at the level of cabinet ministers, ministers and directors, such as left-right servants and ministers, do not wear official seals. It was not until Wu Zetian came to power that the system was reformed and the administrative independence of each department was strengthened, and the twenty-four departments of the Shangshu Province were issued separate seals. Similar situations exist in other departments. During the reign of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, Xue Zhiyu was appointed as the official admonishment officer, and he was a senior official of the fourth rank under Zhongshu's sect. Because it is not a first-level administrative agency, it has no seal. Xue reported to the emperor on the grounds of secrecy: "The seals issued by the admonishers are all confidential. Every piece of information that comes in must be signed by the provincial seals of Menxia and Zhongshu. Every time there is a seal, someone will tell you. Please say goodbye." "The seal of the Remonstrance Court must be cast to avoid leakage." This sounds like reaching out to ask for power, and it also means that Tong Zhongshu's disciples are arguing for independence. Soon, this person was transferred to Central University as assistant to the president (Guozi Siye). On the other hand, Hanlin Academy, although it had the reputation of "Beimen Scholar" in the early days, served the emperor, dealt with advisors, and controlled imperial edicts, it was not an independent official office and had no seal. Since Dezong, the secret orders were internally consulted, the authority was increased, and he was known as the "internal prime minister". Eventually, a pattern of "internal control" and "external control" was separated from Zhongshu Sheren. As a symbol, it was in the early years of Xianzong that The Hanlin Academy printed it separately. In short, it took a long time for the official seal to be separated from the personal rank and become the official seal of the administrative agency. Since then, the troubles of diverse political offices and overlapping responsibilities have been greatly reduced. When it comes to the specifications of official seals, there is also a process of reorganization from chaos to neatness. Let's look at the official seals from the Warring States Period in the "Compilation of Ancient Seals". The "Jun's Letter Seal" numbered 0007 has a side length of only two and a half centimeters. The side length of the other "Zuo Zhi" seal numbered 0227 is about 2.5 centimeters. There are three centimeters. Looking at the official seals of the Han Dynasty in the "Fengni Collection", not only are the low-level official seals larger than the high-level official seals, but the shape of the seal surface is also "a hundred flowers blooming", some are extremely square, some are almost rectangular, some have curved corners, and some The round and oval shapes are probably mostly made according to the material used to make the seal, and whatever material is available will be used to make the seal surface. As for the writing of the seals and the arrangement of rows from the left or from the right, they are also varied and unsystematic. When they appear in overall shape, the specifications can be distinguished from the gold and silver materials and green and black ribbon colors, but once they are reflected in official documents in the form of seals, confusion is inevitable unless you are very familiar with them. Jia Yi's "Public Security Policy" reveals that the forgery defrauded the state treasury of nearly 100,000 shi of grain, levied more than 6 million yuan in tax, and defrauded people to travel to the county in official carriages. It should be said that these defects in printing are all related to It has a lot to do with it - when all kinds of official seals are everywhere, and even the official seals used by those who have left office or passed away still exist in the world, it is really not easy to distinguish the authenticity as long as someone dares to act recklessly. Since the Tang Dynasty, when official seal settings were strictly controlled, printing specifications have also become more rigorous. The seals of all departments are all made of copper, and the seal body is square. The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system. The seals under the Zhongshu Gate were two inches and one cent. The seals of the Privy Council, Xuanhui, Sansi and Shangshu Province were two inches. The seals of the Jiedushi Office were one inch and nine cents. The seals of the government agencies at the following levels were One inch and eight minutes, in descending order ("History of the Song Dynasty·Yu Fu Zhi"). This method of distinguishing grades based on the size of the seal was inherited by the Yuan Dynasty, such as "the first-grade yamen used three gold seals, and the second-rank yamen used two silver seals" ("Tongkao of continued literature"). In addition, the official seal has a handle to facilitate the shape of the seal, the so-called "seal handle", which was also promoted at this time. In the Ming Dynasty, the seals of all yamen were uniformly engraved by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing of the Ministry of Rites, and there were detailed regulations on casting, replacement, defense, and verification. "Any person who has a foreign language and moves it to Beijing must be sent to the Bureau of Engraving and Seal to authenticate the authenticity of his seal." Of course, it cannot be said that fraud can be completely eliminated in this way. For example, in Chapter 19 of "The Scholars", Pan Sanye, an official who served as the Chief Secretary of Zhejiang Province, asked Kuang Kuang to get rewards for helping a wealthy man rob women. Superman fabricated a piece of official document from the Yueqing County Department for him, "I have a fake seal carved from dried tofu at home, so take it and use it." However, these tricks can only be played at the grassroots level, and they are effective under the conditions of collusion between inside and outside. It is not so easy to deceive in the capital where there is a bureau to distinguish authenticity. This is the benefit of a thorough system. . Just like the use of official seals that people are familiar with today, the role of official seals in ancient times in the operation of national administrative mechanisms was mainly reflected in document seals. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, official documents were kept in bamboo slips, but they could not be stamped with seals. The method of sealing is to use cooked cowhide strips to string together a brief booklet of an official document in order, put it into a special cloth bag, with the opening in the middle, quite like a modern briefcase, tie it tightly with two ropes, and then take a A ball of gelatinous purple mud is placed on the knotted part of the rope to bond it. When the mud is still wet, press it with the official seal to carve a clear official seal - this is what has been unearthed since the late Qing Dynasty. "Sealing mud". The significance of sealing is similar to the current confidentiality measures of sealing documents with fire paint and then stamping them with seals. On the other hand, it also indicates the identity of the document's owner and signer.

The invention of the official seal has enabled China to have a documented system for issuing and signing official documents since the Qin and Han Dynasties. As stipulated in the Han Dynasty, official transfer documents for all levels of government should be issued by the head of the agency. If the chief is absent, the "most recent" person can perform the chief's duties and issue documents on his behalf, but the agent can only use his or her own official seal to issue documents to indicate responsibility. As mentioned before, any document with a seal of more than 200 stones on the seal is a legally valid "official document". If it is a "half-pass" seal of less than 200 stones, its effectiveness will be halved accordingly. Paper had been invented in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but because the technology was not yet sophisticated, it had not yet been used as official document material. "Three Kingdoms·Wu Shu" records that after Liu Bei's death, Wu and Shu reestablished their alliance. After being sealed, all diplomatic documents sent by Lord Sun Quan to repay the Shu Han were first sent to Lu Xun, the governor stationed in Jingzhou, for review. When it was appropriate, "the order was changed to seal it", and for this reason, "[Sun] Quan Seal was engraved and placed in its place". It can be seen that until this time, the usage of official seals was still "sealing it with clay and suppressing it with seal". Starting around the Wei and Jin Dynasties, paper became the carrier of official documents. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, white paper was used for general official documents, and yellow paper that had been processed to prevent insects from settling was used for important official documents. This was an epoch-making turning point in the official document system, and it also triggered major changes in the production and use methods of official seals: before this, the seals of official seals were mostly in Yin characters, which were stamped on purple clay and turned into Yang characters, which was easy to identify. After the paper was inserted into the official document, the seal was directly covered with vermilion ink pad on the paper, and the seal text was accordingly transformed into a multi-purpose Yang script. During the reign of Emperor Ming of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Shangshu Zuocheng Lu Tong reviewed the list of military merit awards submitted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. After comparing it with the report from the Central Military Bureau, he found that there were more than 300 suspected counterfeiters, so he wrote to the emperor and suggested that such a list be made in the future. At that time, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Central Military Bureau sent people to jointly handle the matter. "If the names and ranks correspond, they will be printed in large characters in regular script on Huang Su (yellow paper), specify the rank number, and order this Cao Shangshu to be printed with a red seal." This information may be one of the earliest records to support the change in the use of official seals, that is, using vermilion seal clay to cover the paper. The petition also proposed that the roster should be "clearly created with two connections, one to close the official department, and the other to keep the military bureau, and keep in touch with the report, so as to prevent fraud and purge, and to retreat without any reason for change" ("Northern History·Lu Tong") pass"). It can be seen from the words "wiping and washing" that the ink pad preparation technology at that time also needed to be improved. "Book of Sui·Etiquette" also mentions that the household registers controlled by the state finance department during the Northern Qi Dynasty had "seal seams", which were stamped where the two pieces of paper were connected to prevent them from being replaced and scattered. This is probably one of the earliest records about the "riding seam seal". Changes in the use of seals have also brought about new problems in seal style and seal format. According to the "Old Tang Book Duan Xiu Shi Biography", during the reign of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, there was a mutiny in Jingyuan, and the emperor fled to Fengtian. Fengxiang Jiedu envoy Zhu, who was about to usurp the throne, took the opportunity to occupy Chang'an and sent his general Han to lead three thousand horses to Fengtian. "Ying Luanjia" actually wanted to kill him. After Duan Xiushi, the Qing of Sinong, learned of his plot, in desperation, he "used Sinong's seal to chase the troops", that is, he forged an order for Han to return to Chang'an immediately, and because he did not have Zhu's Jiedushi seal, he used his seal. The official seal of Sinong Temple, the institution under his control, was stamped upside down on the forged order. "The soldiers could not discern the seal and returned in panic." From the perspective of protecting the emperor's safety, this was a great achievement, but it also revealed that until the mid-Tang Dynasty, the characters on official seals were probably still in the ancient seal style, which was difficult to read, and the seal format was not strictly standardized. According to the "Tongkao of Documents", during the reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, he ordered Shao Mi, the imperial edict, and Su Tangqing, the chief minister in the palace, to "specify the world's seals in detail". These two old antiques "both knew the seal script" and the seals they produced did not meet the decree. , "Let's find it again and abolish it", probably after changing it again, it will be easier for everyone to identify. At the same time, the format of the official seal's seal also began to be particular. "History of the Song Dynasty·Biography of Wang Dan" says that when Wang Dan was appointed Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province, he issued a document to the Privy Council, which "violated the imperial edict". The Privy Council envoy Kou Zhun immediately reported it to the emperor. As a result, Wang Dan was criticized and the General Office Clerks (clerks) below the director "were all punished." Less than a month later, an official document from the Privy Council was sent to Zhongshu Sheng, "It also violates the imperial edict, and the court officials happily submitted it to [Wang] Dan", thinking that this was an opportunity to retaliate against Privy Council Kou. However, Prime Minister Wang was able to punt a boat, so he ordered "it is just to return the [Shu] Secret Courtyard, and the [Kou] will be greatly embarrassed." The Ming and Qing Dynasties saw the most sophisticated seal format. For example, the Qing Dynasty's "Everything" stipulates the sealing method of state and county government offices: all upward documents must be stamped with the "Heavenly Seal" on the front, and all downward documents must be stamped with the "original seal" on the year, month and day, and "slanted seal" When examining a corpse's "corpse", each page must be stamped with a "land seal" at the bottom of the document, and a "continuous seal" must be used to fill in the fatal wounds; any voucher containing the land's money and grain must be stamped (similar to today's (three-part form, four-part form), "diagonal printing" is used when riding the seam, and the serial ticket must be turned upside down when stamping, which is called "reverse printing" and so on. These particular skills were not studied when preparing to take the imperial examination, but the senior subordinates were more proficient in them than the leaders of the government agencies. However, if an outsider wants to falsify official business, it will not be easy for him to get away with it. The careful setting and safekeeping of official seals has always been a top priority in regulations and systems. For example, the "Official System Law" of the Song Dynasty stipulates that when an agency applies for a seal: "In all cases, a seal should be cast, and a certain character should be used as the text to ensure the affiliation. When replacing a new seal, "the old seal will be used to apply for the new seal and be destroyed on the same day." There are also cases where a corner of the seal surface is first filed off and destroyed as soon as possible. In short, it is absolutely not allowed to happen that the invalidated official seal remains intact in the world. The way official seals are kept is that in the era of Qin, Han, Wei and Jin, there was one official seal and one seal. Each person wore it with them and never left it day and night. Since the Tang Dynasty, it has been printed as the official seal of the government and kept in the government.

"Yin Hua Lu" says: "The twenty-four seals of the Shangshu Province are on duty in the hall. When each official is on duty, the officials hold them on their arms to teach each other." This shows the strictness of the night watch to protect the seals. During the Qing Dynasty, the sealed envelopes of various agencies in Beijing were stored in the office. If they were stolen, the official on duty who was in charge of supervision for the month would be dismissed, and the head of the agency would be dismissed and remain in office. If you can get it yourself, you will be downgraded based on the length of time it was stolen. The seals of local government agencies at all levels are stored in the office, or the seals of officials on business trips are stored in their residences. If they are stolen, the official who has the seal will be dismissed. If you can get it yourself, you will be downgraded based on the length of time it was stolen. There are also strict regulations on the procedures for using official seals and the responsible persons. Take the "Tang Seal" of the Zhengshi Hall under Zhongshu's sect in the Tang Dynasty as an example. All official documents that require a seal must be signed and signed by the chief in charge, transcribed and proofread, and then sent to the "tangtou" (equivalent to the office of the Zhengshi Hall). The director of the department shall review and seal the application only after the review is correct. There is a tomb biography from the Tang Dynasty. The author is named Shao Caizhi. The story mentioned above is about Tang Dezong's escape to Fengtian. He was the head of the hall who followed the "suffering". The inscription states that he "held the seal of the hall, followed him to Fengtian, and was within the siege." After going through hardships and dangers, when he overcame them, he was rewarded for his merits, so he moved to the fifth rank." It is estimated that the original official rank was at least from the sixth rank. Let's look at the regulations on the use of hall seals in the Qing Dynasty's "Rules of the Imperial Ministry of Industry": "Every month, four Manchu and Han officials are assigned to supervise the use of hall seals in turn on a daily basis. Every day, the posts are written Please receive the hall seal key and it will be opened when the time comes. Use the [钤] ordinary manuscript and then use the [钤] title book. After using it, the hall seal key and the printing slip will still be handed over to the secretary in the Qing Dynasty. The official is also at least sixth grade. The supervisory levels of seals from the Tang and Qing Dynasties all showed that the "official seal" was used with extreme caution. One of the reasons why there is a special person to supervise the use of seals is to prevent cheating, especially the subordinates, that is, the specific handling personnel. For example, in the early Tang Dynasty, the civil servants and soldiers were in charge of the selection of civil and military officials, and scandals might have reached heaven from time to time. Therefore, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty issued an edict to reprimand the heads of the two departments: "...you can't do it yourself, and appoint cunning officials to do whatever you want. "If you become an adulterer, you will become a beetle." He asked the general commissioner to work personally in the future, especially "the imprint shall not be entrusted to subordinate officials" ("Cefu Yuangui Quanxuan Department"), because he knew that the previous lessons were mostly related to subordinate officials. It is related to the lack of supervision over sealing. However, "If your officials are as clean as water, how can you compete with officials as smooth as oil?" Their way to deal with the seal supervision system is to secretly prepare the keys to the seal box, and when they need to use the seal to cheat, they can steal it themselves. "New Book of the South" said that when Pei Du was appointed prime minister, one day he suddenly discovered that the seal of the political hall was not in the seal box, and everyone was panicked for a while. Pei Du "immediately ordered a banquet to be held, and no one knew why." Everyone drank until midnight, when suddenly the seal letter came back from the left and right, so they stopped happily. Afterwards, Pei Du explained: "This is because Xu's disciples stole the printed book certificates. If you are slow, you will save it; if you are hasty, you will throw yourself into fire and water, and you will never get it again." This anecdote has always been regarded as the visit of the prime minister. Praise for his perseverance and magnanimity actually reflects the helplessness of being an official. Because the seal was stolen, the officials on duty were first held accountable, and the head of the agency was also punished. Therefore, we had to pretend to be deaf and mute, not to investigate, and wait for the person who stole the seal to use it before returning it to its original place. This method of "scouring for paste" seems to have been passed down from generation to generation. "Waiqu Lu" says that in the Northern Song Dynasty, "when a prime minister enters a province, he must first use a scale to seal the box and then open it." If the seal box is empty when the scale comes out, simply don't open it, lest the seal be reported as lost and everyone suffers. It is said that when Cai Jing was the prime minister, he encountered such a situation. "One day, the weighing box was very light. I was suspicious and shook it silently." So Cai Jing said, "There is no need to open the seal, and there is no need to seal it today." We weighed it again the next day and found that the weight was normal, so we opened the box and used the seal. Cai Jing's explanation is similar to that of Pei Du: "This must be done by provincial officials who have private purposes and are caught in a hurry. If you are in a hurry, you will not be able to get it." This kind of perfunctory behavior of not reporting the case in order to avoid punishment will inevitably lead to condoning the traitor. . And because the regulations of the past dynasties regarding the theft of official seals have always held leaders and commissioners accountable first, so there are also officials who use stolen seals to blackmail and retaliate against leaders. There is a story in "Yuanjian Leihan", which also happened in the Northern Song Dynasty: a certain book was lost in printing, and the emperor wanted to severely punish the official He Xunzhi. Prime Minister Lu Gong wrote: "Xunzhi is guilty of failing to maintain integrity, but if he is severely punished, [then] all the cunning officials in the future will be able to dominate the department." As a result, He Xunzhi only received a light punishment. It seems that Lu, like Prime Minister Pei and Prime Minister Cai, have gone through the practice of Samadhi True Fire. Compared with the lax management of central government agencies, the situation of local governments is difficult to describe. Taking the county government offices in the Ming and Qing Dynasties as an example, the scope of signing official affairs covers almost all aspects of "governing the people", including notice boards, official documents and files, books and account books, legal documents, as well as private contracts for the purchase and sale of land and houses, and various business operations. Business certificates and even the memorial inscriptions to the City God must be stamped with the official seal. The high frequency of seal use can be observed from one perspective: at that time, the rule was that any sealing agency would set up a "number book" to record the seal date, event, and number of seals with numbers for verification. According to two previous Huang Liuhong, the county magistrate, introduced in "Fu Hui Quanshu" that in a county government office, there were as many as 46 categories of this kind of directory. Although most of these seal-using incidents are trivial, they all involve the interests of various people, and even the political achievements and future of the official who holds the seal is the county magistrate. Therefore, it is also a matter of negligence. For this reason, in the past, the top leaders of states and counties used the confidants they brought to their posts as "Si Yin". No matter whether they were working or sitting in the hall, the Si Yin would always hold the seal box with them. Si Yin's "stay ahead" is that every time he seals an official seal, there is a bad rule of "heart red silver" to be eaten. Especially the seal used for private sales contracts has more benefits. In order to keep this stable golden job, generally speaking, there is no need to betray the master. Being able to be so cautious naturally meets the requirement that "the imprint must not be entrusted to subordinate officials".

But on the other hand, having a close confidant to oversee the sealing process is also an unsupervised use of power. To take a step back, since a single daughter-in-law has to cope with the position of countless mothers-in-law in grassroots units, it is inevitable to make some accommodations in the sealing procedures. According to regulations, each local government must send accountants to the Ministry of Household Affairs in the capital every year to report the local annual fiscal revenue and expenditure. Only after the Ministry of Household Affairs has reviewed and verified that the figures are in full compliance can the report be cancelled. If the money figures are uneven in cents, millimeters, liters, or buckets, the entire financial statement will be rejected and reconstructed. It is not difficult to recreate the report form, but the difficulty is that it must be stamped with the official seal of the original unit to be legal. Such a back and forth will take many months or even several months to complete. This not only adds to the trouble of traveling back and forth for the above-mentioned personnel, but also affects the performance evaluation of local officials. For this reason, officials from all over the country who went to Beijing to report to the public always brought blank sealed books with the official seal, and they could fill them in at any time when they met with the Ministry of refutation. This is a habit that has been followed for generations. To use a modern advertising slogan, it is "a secret known throughout the country." However, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, did not know this "secret". After accidentally learning about it, Long Yan was furious and concluded that there must be a traitor. This is how the shocking "Empty Seal Case" in the history of the Ming Dynasty happened. I don't know how many local officials died. on this big case. The legal network here is tightened, but the loopholes are wide open over there - in order to ensure that the report is completed on time, the local government can only bargain with the Ministry of Household Affairs and send bribes. Both sides are "officials as slippery as oil", and the superiors receive red envelopes , The kickbacks received from below are enough to catalyze the corruption of officials. In fact, there is more to the preparation of blank documents than the cancellation. After the limelight has passed, everything will continue as usual. On the other hand, the disadvantages of "full of false feelings" do exist. Let's take a small case that happened in the fourth year of Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty: A man named Li Jiashan founded a private newspaper in Beijing. He "borrowed the blank seal of the magistrate and other yamen of Wanxian County (now part of Hebei) and delivered it to the Beijing News", which was to rip off the country. Yi Chuan's oil, in order to save the cost of delivering newspapers to subscribers everywhere. Later, the governor of Zhili discovered and impeached him, and he was punished according to the law of "falsifying documents for prefecture and county government seals". Many official documents from various counties that provided him with blank seals were collected on the Internet, and they were also associated with "Wan County Magistrate and other officials" They all deserved the blame and were referred to the Ministry of Civil Affairs for discussion" ("Criminal Cases Summary" of the Qing Dynasty). Imagine what would happen if these blank seal papers were used for private partnership cases, tax evasion, forged resumes, and false claims of official property? In modern society, people often refer to seal managers. Such as government secretarial department confidential departments, company secretaries, etc. Involving the management of secretarial seal work: 1. Management and use of official seals (1) Origin of seals. The categories of seals in the past dynasties are as follows: 1. Official seal 2. Private seal 3. Monogram 4. Bird and insect book seal 5. Auspicious language seal 6 . Leisure seal 7. Zhaiguan seal 8. Collection seal 9. Xiao-shaped seal (2) Nature and types of official seal 1. Nature of official seal Seals that are managed by the secretary generally include: (1) The official seal of the unit, that is, since the date of establishment of the unit From now on, the official seal with the full name of the organization issued by the superior authority. (2) Personal signatures or seals engraved by the main leaders of the unit due to work needs. (3) Special seals for secretarial work, such as receipt and dispatch seals, service seals, proofreading seals, seal seals, etc. The official seal has three properties: First, it is legal. For example, the official seal of a unit represents the official signature of the unit. It is a symbol of power and has a legal nature. Once official documents, certificates, etc. are stamped with the official seal of the unit, it means that they have been recognized by the unit that stamped the seal and are officially effective. The second is authority. The official seal is the representative of the unit. Under certain circumstances, the realization of the unit's authority is authenticated by the seal. The official seal is the symbol of the unit's authority. The signature stamp or seal belonging to the leader of a government-specific unit represents the identity of the leader of the unit and is also authoritative. The third is effectiveness. Documents and instructions without the official seal are invalid, only documents with the official seal will be valid. 2. Types of official seals (1) Official seal of the unit (2) Set of seals (3) Steel seal (4) Signature seal of leader (5) Other seals (3) Style of official seal 1. Material of official seal 2. Shape of official seal 3. Seals and arrangement of seals 4. Pattern of official seal 5. Size and specifications of official seal (4) Engraving of official seal (5) Issuance and use of official seal (6) Custody of official seal (7) Use of official seal must be approved by the leader Approval and detailed registration (8) Deactivation and destruction of official seal 2. Use and storage of letters of introduction (1) Forms of letters of introduction There are generally four forms of letters of introduction: 1. Ordinary letter of introduction. 2. Stub letter of introduction. 3. Dedicated letter of introduction 4. Letter of certification. (2) The use and storage of letters of introduction [Case]: Through this case, please talk about how to manage letters of introduction. The seal of an agency, enterprise or social group is the symbol and proof of the status and power of this institution or organization as a legal person, and has legal effect. There are strict rules and regulations for the use of seals. Certain procedures must be followed when using seals. Seals cannot be used in violation of regulations or without authorization. The person who holds the seal of a unit is responsible for important relationships between the ups and downs of his hand. The seal administrator of a department office was about to get off work at noon one day when he met a party branch secretary and manager of a subordinate company who often came to work. He took a registration form for his daughter to participate in the adult college entrance examination and asked her to sign the opinions of the competent department and Stamped with the official seal of the office. At first, the supervising secretary asked him to go to the Department of Human Resources to get the seal stamped, but the manager made the excuse that "he was off work and had no time" and said, "The unit has agreed to get the stamp stamped." Due to "acquaintance and face" and the reason "it only counts if she passes the exam", she did not adhere to the principle, but signed her opinion on the registration form and stamped it with the seal of the imperial court.

A year later, the masses revealed that the manager had committed fraud, abused his power for personal gain, used unit quotas, defrauded the unit and the competent department of signatures, and sent unqualified women to college. It was verified by the relevant departments that in addition to disciplinary sanctions against the parties concerned, party disciplinary sanctions were also imposed on the office seal supervisory secretaries who did not adhere to principles, exceeded their authority, violated disciplines, and used seals at will. The title of "Outstanding Party Member" for that year was cancelled. The seal administrator of the manager's company was also criticized and educated, and he was ordered to make a written review. The company's official seal use management system 1. Official seal use management system 1. The official seal shall be managed by a designated person designated by the general manager of the enterprise and shall control its use. All registrations using official seals must be signed by the person in charge. 2. Documents, materials, reports, etc. that are reported, sent, and issued in the name of the company must be reviewed and approved by the general manager before they can be stamped with the official seal and undergo strict registration procedures. 3. The company's official seal cannot be borrowed. When the person in charge is absent, the general manager will designate a person to take care of it. Both parties must complete the handover procedures. 4. Enterprise employees need to use a letter of introduction from the unit for withdrawing money, picking up items, reporting loss, applying for a driver's license, etc., which must be approved by the general manager and strictly registered. 5. No one may require the official seal to be stamped on a blank document under any pretext. 6. Anyone who uses the official seal privately or uses the official seal to commit fraud will be severely punished if found. 2. Management system for the use of contract seals 1. The contract seal shall be kept by a dedicated person in the Finance Department. No department or personnel may borrow or use the contract seal. The consequences of violation of regulations shall be the responsibility of the seal custodian; if it is lost, it shall be reported and dealt with in a timely manner. 2. All contracts negotiated within the scope of authorization can only be established with the consent of the general manager. After being reviewed and signed by the legal representative or legal representative, it will be stamped by the Finance Department and registered and filed in strict accordance with the registration procedures. 3. Without the approval of the general manager, no legal representative or legal representative has reviewed or signed the contract, or a blank contract shall not be stamped with a special contract seal. Otherwise, the party concerned shall bear all economic losses and be held criminally responsible. 4. Anyone who affixes the contract seal privately or uses the contract seal for personal gain will be severely punished upon discovery. 3. Management system for the use of special financial seals and legal person seals 1. Special financial seals and legal person seals must be kept and controlled by the person in charge of finance. 2. The special financial seal and legal person seal cannot be left to the bank teller for safekeeping and use. 3. In addition to the special financial seal and legal person seal required for normal financial needs, other matters that need to be used must be reported to the company's general manager for approval by the financial person in charge and the legal person's consent can only be used and strict registration procedures must be obtained. Anyone found to have stamped their seal privately will be severely punished. 4. No one is allowed to stamp a special financial seal or corporate seal on a blank document under any excuse. 4. Management system for the use of cash, bank, and transfer receipt (payment) stamps 1. Cashiers are responsible for keeping and controlling the use of cash, bank, and transfer receipt (payment) stamps. 2. Cash, bank, transfer receipt (payment) stamps can only be used when cash, bank, transfer receipt or payment is completed. 3. It is not allowed to stamp cash or bank receipt (payment) stamps on blank documents. Once discovered, severe punishment will be imposed and economic losses will be borne. 5. Management system for the use of special invoice seals. The special invoice seals are kept and controlled by accounting personnel. The special invoice seals are used to stamp special value-added tax invoices. After receiving the payment, the financial department verifies the purchaser's "General Taxpayer Qualification Certificate" Then a special value-added tax invoice will be issued to him and a special invoice stamp will be stamped.