QUESTION:
If you have ever dealt with the bureaucracy in China, you would have seen the round red stamps that are placed at the bottom of formal documents. These red-ink seals are the western equivalent of signatures.

Seal-cutting is traditionally listed along with painting, calligraphy and poetry as one of the "four arts" expected of the accomplished scholar and a unique part of the Chinese cultural heritage.

The art dates back about 3,700 years to the Yin Dynasty and has its origin in the cutting of oracle inscriptions on tortoise shells. It flourished in the Qin Dynasty, when people engraved their names on utensils and documents (of bamboo and wood) to show ownership or authorship.

Out of this grew the cutting of personal names on small blocks of horn, jade or wood, namely the seals as we know them today.

What materials are used for seals used by government departments today:

A. Wood and plastic;
B. Brass and jade;
C. Steel and wood;
D. Bamboo and tortoise shell.

ANSWERS:
A is the answer that you were looking for. From as early as the Warring States Period (475- 221 BC) an official seal would be bestowed as token of authorization by the head of a state to a subject whom he appointed to a high office. The seal, in other words, stood for the office and corresponding power. Private seals are likewise used to stamp personal names on various papers for purposes of authentication or as tokens of good faith.

Next time you are visiting a government office to renew your driver's license, visa or signing any official document, take notice of the seal that is used to 'chop' the document and think of its long history.