Who invented the ancient official seal? Why do you have to carry it with you?

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, and then sealed a new chief himself, ordering 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.

From official seal to official seal

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.

Satisfied, please adopt.