China
Qin, Han, Wei, Western Jin, former Zhao, Eastern Jin, Song, Southern Qi, Liang, Chen, Sui, Tang, Hou Liang and the later Tang all used the imperial seal handed down by Qin Shihuang, engraved with the words "I am ordered by heaven to live forever", which was made of choi. Among them, when Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, he asked Zheng Jun, the queen mother at that time, for the imperial seal. Li Congke, the late Tang emperor, set himself on fire, and the national seal disappeared.
In the Song Dynasty, some farmers dug up the "national seal" in the fields. Song Ting thought it was made by Qin Shihuang, but some people thought it was forged. Later, the State of Jin took this imperial seal and spread it to the Yuan Dynasty. Yuan was taken to the north when he died, and the Ming army sent troops many times and couldn't get it back. Since then, the Ming and Qing dynasties have produced a large number of jade seals to reduce the importance of the spread of jade seals.
When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom revolted, the heavenly king also made a new decree. Tianwang's jade seal is made of sapphire, square, with a side length of 20.4 cm, a height of 2.7 cm and a buckle height of 7.4 cm. The back of the button is engraved with moire pattern, and the side of the button is engraved with double phoenix sunrise pattern. Around the seal, there are double phoenix and sunrise patterns engraved on it, dragon patterns engraved on the left and right, and water patterns engraved on the bottom. The seal was carved in official script of Song Dynasty, with 44 characters.
The seal is divided into two parts: in the middle of the upper part, there are four characters of "Father God", which are read vertically; On both sides are the words "jade" and "seal" and the words "Tai" and "Ping". Outside the small character "Tai", there are two big characters "Enhe", which are read vertically; Outside the small word "Ping", there are two big characters "Jim", which are read vertically. The second half consists of four words and eight sentences, from left to right, which are Yongding Gankun, Long Live Eight, Save the Young Master, Heavenly King and Red Sun, Heavenly Brother Christ, Real King Guifu and Forever Tin Tianlu.
The seal of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is now in the National Museum of China.
After the Revolution of 1911, as a reform measure, the government of the Republic of China announced the abolition of the use of the imperial seal.
Japan
The Japanese emperor also used the imperial seal as his signature, also called the imperial seal. The status and symbolic significance of the three objects symbolized by Japanese emperors in past dynasties are equivalent to that of China's national seal.