China News Service, Beijing, March 30th: Why can Xiling Seal Society become the world center of seal studies?
Author Wen Longjie Han Yu Wang Zonghan
Xiling Seal Society has been established for more than 120 years. As the oldest existing literary society in China and the earliest established academic group for epigraphy and seal carving, Xiling Seal Society is known as the "No. 1 Society in the World". The territory is firmly in the center, which stems from the literati society's strong character and its global vision.
On November 11, 2023, citizens displayed the commemorative postage envelopes they purchased for "The 120th Anniversary of the Founding of Xiling Seal Society" at the Post Office of Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province. Photo by Shi Borong
Seal is a way of recording information and proving credit that the ancestors of all civilizations in the world thought of invariably. Sha Menghai, an art master and former president of Xiling Seal Society, pointed out in his book "History of Seal Studies" that seals originated after social and economic development reached a certain level and were used as a credit certificate for commodity exchange to ensure the safe transfer and storage of goods.
Wang Zhiliang, a villager in Xiatan Village, Pingshan County, Hebei Province, collected a share of the local border district government credit cooperative in 1939. The person who handled it was stamped with the red seal of the No. 7 Credit Cooperative Preparatory Committee of Pingshan County. Photo by Zhai Yujia
In China, seals are divided into official seals and private seals: official seals are, according to Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi", "the letter held by the government"; private seals have no fixed system, but have their own customs and habits. The history of seals in China is very long. Since the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the "Li" of Zhou has recorded that "all currency bribes are entered and exited by the seal festival"; Zheng Xuan of the Han Dynasty noted that "the seal festival is today's seal"...the official seal system and the private seal Its use continued to evolve and update throughout the dynasties, eventually forming a unique seal culture in China.
On March 25, 2021, Sotheby's Chinese Art Department in Hong Kong presented three imperial seals of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, including the posthumous treasure of the green jade dragon button of Empress Yongle Renxiaowen of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial treasure of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the sandalwood exotic animal button "Jingtian Qinmin" square seal and The royal treasure of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty was handed over to the dragon-button white "Ji'entang" jade seal. Photo by Li Zhihua
Especially since the Yuan Dynasty, literati have integrated poetry, calligraphy, painting, and printing into paintings and complemented each other. The stone flavor of the seal, the taste of the knife, and the content of the text clearly express the inner thoughts. Skills advance to art, and art advances to Tao. Artistic creation begins to be closely related to the tempering of personality. The seal of "Leaning on the Pine and Playing with the Crane after Playing the Qin", the seal of the poem "There is no admonishment at the door, there are fallen flowers in the courtyard", the leisure chapter "Mending the mistake", Su Xuan's seal of "Drinking and Reading Li Sao", etc., or borrowing the seal to express feelings, or discussing artistic opinions, or Tell about your attitude towards life, express your ambitions, or express your feelings about the world, earth, people, etc. The seal becomes a carrier and representation of the literati's interests, and it can be said to be a myriad of phenomena within a square inch.
In addition, literati associations are an important traditional Chinese cultural form. According to relevant research in "The Art of Association: Collection of Literary Societies in the East Asian World from the 16th to the 18th Centuries" compiled by Taiwanese historian Zhang Yixi, there were literati gatherings in Beijing and Hangzhou in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and a large number of them were literati who wanted to lead the world but the environment did not allow it. , had no choice but to "entertain unintentionally", appreciate poetry and paintings based on the "Gao Yin Festival", and "appreciate the past" and "discuss the past and present" in the elegant gatherings of scholars.
On November 16, 2018, citizens watched seal art works displayed at the "2018 International Print Society Joint Exhibition" in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. This exhibition is one of the series of exhibitions celebrating the 115th anniversary of Xiling Seal Society. Photo by Wang Gang
In 1904, the old world was on the verge of collapse, and Chinese literati turned their attention away from the bricks and tiles of Qin, Han and tiles, and the classics and history, and turned to the West, which represented "advance" and "the future." In Hangzhou, Zhejiang, which has a rich history of epigraphy and seal carving, Ding Fuzhi, Wang Fu'an, Wu Yin, and Ye Weiming "occupied the lakes and mountains to seize the beauty of inscriptions and stones." They bought land and built houses, and established the Xiling Seal Society on Gushan. Preserving epigraphy and studying seals. When "the sky collapses and the earth disintegrates", I choose to be a disciple of the past, go my own way, go against the world without fear.
Based on the tempering of individual literati's character and the elegant enjoyment of community gatherings, Xiling Seal Society nurtured the members' identity and spiritual conversion, and became a spiritual banner and culture in the years when "the country was destroyed" Inherit and preserve the public consciousness and spiritual consciousness of the national heritage.
The white seal of Wang Fu'an's "Weiwei Bookstore" during the Republic of China was photographed at the "Hongxue Cengming - Works of Early Members of Xiling Seal Society" exhibition at the Nanning Municipal Museum. Photo by Yu Jing
On the east wall of the Guanle Building of the Xiling Seal Society, there is a stone tablet written by Ding Fuzhi, inscribed by Wang Fu'an, written by Wu Changshuo, and inscribed by Ye Wei. It expresses admiration for the gentleman's style and strives to "pass it on for a long time without giving it away." "Lost and fallen" is the realism of this kind of character.
"The heaven and earth have righteousness, and are mixed and endowed with manifolds." This kind of character is due to the brothers Ye Qiusheng and Ye Desheng who stepped forward to protect the integrity of the Gushan Society site after the Japanese invaders occupied Hangzhou; they are one of the founders. During the fall of Hangzhou, Ye Weiming made an exception for his works to support the operation of social affairs; it was Wu Changshuo and others who raised funds everywhere to redeem the oldest existing extant from Japanese businessmen just before the ship carrying precious cultural relics set out to sea. The Chinese stone inscription "Stele on the Death Day of Three Elders of the Han Dynasty". It is this "awe-inspiring spirit" that makes the Xiling Seal Society clearly separate from the traditional literati associations, and it also becomes proudly independent in the history of world seal studies.
Entering the modern era, Xiling Seal Society looks to the world and hopes to use seal culture to promote exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations. Chen Zhenlian, vice president and secretary-general of Xiling Seal Society, has proposed the concept of "Great Seal Studies" in recent years, which has given rise to the seal-style "fusion of civilizations."
On April 17, 2018, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Brazilian star Neymar received a "Global Brand Ambassador" seal at the signing ceremony of serving as the "Global Brand Ambassador" of a Chinese brand. Photo by Mo Chengxiong
Since the discovery of seals in Anatolia (today's Turkey) and later in Mesopotamia (today's northeastern Syria and Iraq) 7,000 years ago, the world has entered an era in which seals are regarded as trustworthy. In addition to having a long history in China, Seal culture is also flourishing in the West. The Romans used iron rings as seals, and this method was used in medieval Europe; a "fisherman's ring" engraved with the image of St. Peter owned by successive popes was mentioned as a seal to seal documents as early as 1265 in the Middle Ages. , until it was replaced by a "real" seal in 1842; the great writer Shakespeare owned a beautifully carved signet ring with his initials engraved on it; the British King Charles III wore a signet ring all year round. As a symbol of the power of the Prince of Wales...whether "public" or "private", the seal has played an important role in the history and culture of the West - the seal culture is one of the excellent starting points for exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations.
The so-called "fusion of civilizations" in the form of seals, for Xiling Seal Society, advocates that on the one hand, the study of seal studies should be compatible with multiple disciplines; on the other hand, it should start from the perspective of research on the history of ancient seal seals in China and the unique art of seal cutting in the world. It is compatible with the ancient seal civilization forms that have existed in various parts of the world since ancient times, and promotes exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western seal cultures from the standpoint and perspective of "world seal history".
On December 17, 2023, in Xidan, Beijing, citizens purchased cultural and creative products and collected exclusive seals at the "Most China Cultural Expo Market". Seals still retain their place in the cultural life of Chinese people today. Photo by Sheng Jiapeng
"Listen to the sound of waves in the east of Zhejiang, and listen to the sound of the waves in Xiling." Over the past 120 years, Xiling Seal Society, on the one hand, has maintained its corner of traditional seal culture in the wave of the times with its own strength and passed it on from generation to generation; on the other hand, with the world's perspective, it has traveled out of China and ridden the wave of the times, through co-founding "Hong Kong Xiling School" and other forms of exchange and mutual learning of Eastern and Western seal cultures and even civilizations. As Chen Zhenlian, vice president and secretary-general of Xiling Seal Society, said, Xiling Seal Society “often takes a step forward and then looks back.” It not only promotes cultural exchanges between East and West seals, but also adheres to the foundation of traditional Chinese seal culture. (over)