Each dynasty in history has maintained its feudal, authoritarian, autocratic, and rule symbol, the "Precious Seal". Since Qin Shihuang began to engrave it, the successive dynasties have either inherited or reengraved it until This is true in both the Qing Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. The precious seal system founded by Qin Shihuang was inherited by Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, forming what was later called the "Eight Seal System of Qin and Han Dynasties". This system also ran through the entire "Wei", "Jin", "Southern and Northern Dynasties" and "Sui" , they not only inherited the eight seal system of Qin and Han Dynasties, but also the specifications, names, button styles, and text were basically the same. It wasn't until Wu Zetian became emperor in the Tang Dynasty that he ingeniously added a sacred seal "Emperor Tian Jing Ming Ming, the virtuous person will prosper", and changed the eight-seal system to a nine-seal system, and at the same time changed "Xi" to "宝". From then on, From then on, all dynasties called it "treasure". The number increased to twelve treasures in the Northern Song Dynasty and seventeen treasures in the Southern Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the number soared to twenty-four treasures. In the Qing Dynasty, in addition to the twenty-five treasures in Jiaotai Hall for daily use, the "Ten Treasures of Shengjing" were also enshrined. It can be seen that the number of seals in the past dynasties is increasing, and the size is also getting larger and larger, ranging from 1 to 4 inches in the Qin and Han Dynasties, 2 to 4 inches in the Tang Dynasty, until the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The squares range from two inches and nine to five inches and nine. The largest one is the Song Dynasty's "Mingbao", which "ranges heaven and earth, praises the gods, protects Taihe, and Emperor Wanshou". The seal surface is nine inches square, and Emperor Jianwen of the Ming Dynasty said "Heaven's destiny is bright and virtuous, the expression is upright in all directions, the essence is in the center, and the eternity is eternal." The seal of the "Mingming Divine Treasure" is one foot, six inches and nine minutes square, which can be said to be extremely huge.
The Forbidden City now houses nearly 5,000 seals of emperors and empresses of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Emperor Qianlong was the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty after entering the country. During his more than sixty-year reign, he created the most glorious era in the history of the Qing Dynasty. Before Qianlong, the imperial seals of the Qing Dynasty generally did not specify an exact number. In the eleventh year of Qianlong's reign, Emperor Qianlong designated the imperial treasure as twenty-five squares. Later generations called these twenty-five seals "twenty-five treasures".
According to the record of "Twenty-Five Days" in "Zhouyi Taiyan", Emperor Qianlong hoped that the Qing Dynasty could also be passed down to the twenty-fifth generation. The twenty-five treasures of the Qing Dynasty were designated by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. The general name for the twenty-five royal national treasures representing the country, family, government, and power. From then on, these 25 square seals were used during the Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi, and Guangxu years, and were used until the end of Xuantong. The twenty-five square seals each have their own uses, and when gathered together, they represent and encompass all aspects of the emperor's exercise of the supreme power of the country.
These twenty-five precious seals are also the only complete set of emperor's royal treasures in existence. These 25 precious seals are stored in the treasure box in Jiaotai Hall. The seal is under the control of the cabinet, and the seal must be approved by the emperor before it can be used.
Twenty-five square jade seals are made of various materials, mostly made of jade dragon buttons, others include gold, silver and a square wooden jade seal.
The Twenty-Five Treasure Seal is the symbol of Emperor Qianlong. According to the Zhou Dynasty, it was the dynasty with the most emperors in history, lasting for 25 generations. Emperor Qianlong also wanted his dynasty to be as long and glorious as the Zhou Dynasty. Go down, this is what it means on the surface. In fact, the use of seals in the early Qing Dynasty was very confusing. Generally, no matter what document, there were random seals and no fixed rules. Emperor Qianlong recommended this, so he ordered the minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to select the best seals from the inner treasury. The fifteen directions are re-engraved, which is the twenty-five treasures we are familiar with today.
The Qin, Han, Wei, Western Jin, Former Zhao, Eastern Jin, Song, Southern Qi, Liang, Chen, Sui, Tang, Later Liang, and Later Tang dynasties continued to use the imperial seal of Qin Shihuang, which was engraved with "Ordered by "Heaven, both longevity and longevity" was made of He's jade. When Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, he asked the then empress dowager Wang Zhengjun for the imperial seal. Wang Zhengjun was very angry, so he took out the jade seal and smashed it to the ground. It is said that a corner of the imperial seal was broken. Although the missing corner was later replaced with gold, traces of the shattering were still visible. It is said that the imperial seal disappeared when Emperor Li Congke of the late Tang Dynasty burned himself.
During the Song Dynasty, some farmers dug up a jade seal handed down from the country in the fields. The Song Dynasty thought it was the one made by Qin Shihuang, but people at the time thought it was a forgery. Later, the Jin Kingdom took away this jade seal passed down to the Yuan Dynasty. It was taken to the north when the Yuan Dynasty fell. Mongolia presented the national seal to Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty during the Northern Expedition, but Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty returned it to the Mongolian Khan for permission to use it. According to this judgment, it should be a forgery or a newly created object. Manchu, Qing, Conquest, Expedition, Mongolia, and Ancient He also obtained this seal and proclaimed himself emperor, but was later judged to be a forgery by Emperor Qianlong. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of jade seals were made to reduce the importance of the jade seal passed down to the country. From the Qing Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, twenty-five seals were made, which were called the Twenty-Five Treasures of the Qing Dynasty.
At the time of Tai Ping Tian Guo's uprising, the Heavenly King also made a new jade seal. The Heavenly King's Jade Seal was made of sapphire, square, with a side length of 20.4 cm and a height of 2.7 cm. It is 7.4 cm high. The back of the button is engraved with cloud patterns, and the side of the button is engraved with double phoenix and sunrise patterns. Around the seal, there are two phoenixes and sunrise patterns engraved on the top, dragon patterns on the left and right, and standing water patterns on the bottom. The seal is engraved in Song style official script, with 44 characters. The seal is divided into two parts: in the middle of the upper part are the four characters "Heavenly Father and God", read vertically; on both sides are the two characters "yu" and "xi", and the two small characters "tai" and "ping"; the small character "tai" Outside the small character "平", there are two big characters "Enhe", which is read vertically; outside the small character "平", there are two big characters "Jimu", which is read vertically. The lower part is composed of four words and eight sentences, from right to left, in order: "Yongding Qiankun", "Eight Long Lives", "Savior of the Young Lord", "Heavenly King Hongri", "Heavenly Brother Ji, Du", "Lord King Yudu", "True King Guifu" and " Yongxi Tianlu". This jade seal of Taiping Tianguo is now hidden in the National Museum of China.
The "Jade Seal of the Chuanguo" is made of "He's Bi". In the Spring and Autumn Period, Bian He, a native of Chu, found a jade in the mountains and presented it to King Li.
The king asked the jade workers to identify the clouds and found them to be stones. The king was angry and cut off Bian and his left foot for the crime of deceiving the king. After King Wu came to the throne, Bian He offered jade again, but still cut off his right foot again for the crime of deceiving the king. When King Wen came to the throne, Bian and Baoyu sat down and cried at the foot of Jingshan Mountain. King Wen sent someone to inquire and said: "I am not sad to cut off the jade. I am sad for my husband's treasure and jade, so I call it a stone, and a chastity man calls it a lie." King Wen sent a good worker to cut it open, and the result was a jade, so it was called He's Bi. During the reign of King Wei, Xiangguo Zhaoyang had made great contributions in destroying Yue, so the king gave him this jade. Xuan Zhaoyang was having a banquet by the water abyss with guests admiring the jade. At this time, someone shouted: "There is a big fish in the abyss!" Everyone left the room and went to the abyss to watch it. After returning to the banquet, the He family's jade disappeared. At that time, it was suspected that it had been stolen by Zhang Yi, a disciple of the family, so he was arrested and tortured, but to no avail. Zhang Yi was humiliated and resentful, so he left Chu and entered Wei and then Qin. In the tenth year of the Yuan Dynasty (315 BC), Queen Huiwen of Qin worshiped him as the prime minister of Qin. He lobbied other countries to unite with Qin and back Qi, and resumed his status as an envoy. Enter Chu and disintegrate the Qi-Chu alliance. Later, he detained King Huai, conquered the capital of Ying, and took all the land between Chu and Han, and finally got his revenge. Later, the jade was acquired by Yingxian, the eunuch of Zhao State, and was later taken by King Zhao Huiwen as his own. King Zhao of Qin heard about it and said, "I wrote to King Zhao that I would like to offer fifteen cities to Yi Bi." At that time, Qin was strong and Zhao was weak. Lin Xiangru asked himself to send the jade to Qin. After he presented the jade, he saw that the King of Qin had no intention of repaying the city, so he fought hard in the court and would rather die than disgrace his mission.
In the 19th year of the Qin Dynasty, Qin defeated Zhao and obtained He's Bi. The world was unified, and Ying Zheng was named the First Emperor. The seal script of Li Si was written with the eight characters "If you are ordered by heaven, you will live forever". Sunshou, the king of jade workers in Xianyang, ground He's jade finely and carved it into a seal. The jade seal passed down to the country is completed. According to legend, in the 28th year of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shihuang rode a dragon boat across Dongting Lake. A sudden storm arose and the dragon boat was about to tip over. Qin Shihuang hurriedly threw the imperial seal into the lake and prayed to the gods to calm the waves. The jade seal was lost. Eight years later, someone in Pingshu Road, Huayin presented this imperial seal again. Since then, he has changed hands with his country more than ten times, and has experienced the pain of ups and downs and displacement. In the winter of the first year of Qin Ziying, Duke Pei and Liu Bang's army marched forward. Prince Ying of Qin knelt down and held a jade seal and presented it to the left side of Xianyang Road. Qin died. It is said that the imperial seal belongs to Liu Han. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Mang, a relative of the family, usurped power. The child was still young at that time, and the seal was hidden in the Empress Dowager's residence in Changle Palace. Wang Mang sent his brother Wang Shun to ask for it. The Queen Mother was angry and threw the seal to the ground, breaking a corner of it. Wang Mang ordered the craftsmen to repair it with gold. When Mang was defeated and killed, the imperial guard's captain Gongbin was given the imperial seal and went to Wan to present it to Liu Xuan, the Gengshi Emperor. In the third year of Emperor Liu Xuan's reign, the Red Eyebrow Army killed Liu Xuan and established Liu Penzi. Later, Liu Penzi defeated Yiyang and handed over the imperial seal to Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, eunuchs had exclusive power. In the sixth year of Emperor Ling's Xiping reign, Yuan Shao entered the palace to kill the eunuchs. Duan Gui fled with the emperor, and the jade seal disappeared.
At the time of Emperor Xian, Dong Zhuo caused chaos. Sun Jian led his army into Luoyang. One day at midnight, the soldiers saw colorful clouds in a well in the Zhen Palace in the south of the city, so they ordered people to enter the well. They saw a small box tied around the neck of the palace maid who committed suicide in the well. The box contained the jade seal passed down from the country. If Sun Jian found a treasure, he secretly hid it with his wife Wu. Later Yuan Shu arrested the Wu family and seized the seal. After Yuan Shu died, Jingzhou governor Xu Xu brought the seal to Xuchang. At that time, Cao Cao took Xiandi to order the princes. At this point, the imperial seal returned to the Han Dynasty.
In the first year of Yankang, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Xian was forced to abdicate. Cao Pi established the Wei Dynasty and changed the Yuan Dynasty to Huangchu. They ordered someone to carve the official Chinese characters "The Great Wei received the Han Dynasty Seal" on the shoulder of the imperial seal to prove that he was not "usurping the Han Dynasty". In the second year of Xianxi reign of Emperor Cao Huan of Wei Yuan Dynasty, Sima Yan followed suit and was called Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty. In the fifth year of Yongjia in Jin Dynasty, Liu Cong of the former Zhao Dynasty captured Sima Chi, Emperor Huai of Jin Dynasty, and returned his seal to the former Zhao Dynasty. Nineteen years later, the later Zhao Shile destroyed the former Zhao and obtained the seal. Even more ingenious, "Shishi of Destiny" is engraved on the right side. Twenty years later, it was passed to Ran Wei again, and then Ran Wei begged the Eastern Jin army for rescue. Chuan Guo Xi was deceived by a Jin general and sent 300 fine cavalry overnight to the capital Jiankang. As a result, Chuan Guo Xi was returned to Jin Dynasty. In Chao Sima's bag.
During the Southern Dynasty, it was said that the imperial seal passed through the Song, Qi, Liang and Chen dynasties. The Sui Dynasty unified China and brought the national seal to the Sui Palace. In March of the 14th year of Daye, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was killed by rebels in Jiangdu, and the Sui Dynasty died. Empress Xiao and her emperor Sun Zhengdao fled into the Mobei Turks with the imperial seal.
In the early Tang Dynasty, Taizong Li Shimin had no jade seal to pass down the country, so he carved several jade "seals" such as "Shou Ming Bao" and "Dingming Bao" to comfort himself.
In the fourth year of Zhenguan, Li Jing led his army to attack the Turks. In the same year, Empress Xiao and Emperor Sun Zhengdao returned to the Central Plains. The imperial seal was passed down to Li Tang, and Taizong Longyan was delighted.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the world was in chaos and heroes were everywhere. In the fourth year of Tianyou's reign in the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Quanzhong deposed Emperor Ai of the Tang Dynasty, seized the imperial seal, and built the Later Liang Dynasty. Sixteen years later, Li Cunxu destroyed the Later Liang and established the Later Tang Dynasty. The imperial seal was transferred to the Later Tang Dynasty. Thirteen years later, Shi Jingtang led the Khitan army to Luoyang. The last emperor, Li Congke, climbed to the Xuanwu Tower and burned himself on the Xuanwu Tower with the Chuan Guo Xi in his arms. Chuan Guo Xi disappeared.
When Guo Wei, Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, searched all over to find the national seal, he had no choice but to engrave two seals such as "Emperor's Divine Treasure" and passed it on to the Northern Song Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Zhezong of the Northern Song Dynasty, a farmer named Duan Yi found the imperial seal while plowing the fields and sent it to the court. After extensive research by thirteen academicians based on records from previous dynasties, it was determined that it was the imperial seal made by the First Emperor. However, knowledgeable people in both the government and the public are suspicious of its hypocrisy. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Huizong was so elegant that he engraved more seals in ten directions. People at the time were ridiculing them for adding more than enough, but in fact Huizong seemed to have a deep intention of downplaying the status of the national seal.
In the first year of Jingkang of the Song Dynasty, the Jin soldiers broke through Bianliang, the two emperors of Huiqin were plundered, and the "Chuanguo Seal" was robbed by the Jin Kingdom, and then disappeared.
In the thirty-first year of Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan died. The "Jade Seal of the State" suddenly appeared in Dadu and was sold in the market. It was purchased by the powerful Prime Minister Boyan.
Boyan once polished all the seals of various countries collected by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and distributed them to princes, princes and ministers to engrave personal seals. The jade seal of the Chuan Dynasty may also be in it and encounter unexpected events.
In the twenty-eighth year of Zhizheng in the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor in Jiankang, named Daming, and changed his name to Hongwu in Yuan Dynasty. Following the Northern Expedition, the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty abandoned the Central Plains and went to Mobei, continuing to gallop across thousands of miles of northern borders. In the early Ming Dynasty, Taizu sent Xu Da into Mobei to pursue and attack the Yuan Dynasty forces who had escaped far away. The main purpose was to obtain the jade seal passed down to the country, but in the end he returned without success.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were occasional clamor for the appearance of "jade seals passed down to the country", but they were all imitations and fakes. For example, during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty, someone once offered the so-called "Jade Seal of the State", but Emperor Xiaozong believed it to be a fake and did not adopt it. By the early Qing Dynasty, there were nine out of thirty Purple, Forbidden, City, Tibetan, and Imperial Seals, one of which was called the "Jade Seal of the Chuan Guo". During the Qianlong period, Emperor Gaozong was very good at research and decided that it was a fake. But Quan takes the false as the true and makes up for it, and there is no one who goes into it deeply. After the founding of the Republic of China, the Qing court abdicated, but according to preferential treatment conditions, they still occupied the Forbidden City and were said to be lonely and outnumbered. Until November of the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, the last emperor Puyi was expelled from the palace by Feng Yuxiang. Now, when members of the Qing Dynasty's post-mortem committee met to count the items, they were found in the West Nuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace. The size was 6.8X6.8cm.
Thus, after more than two thousand years of ups and downs and confusion, the "Jade Seal of the Nation" appeared and disappeared, and was eventually lost in the long river of history.