The present article focuses on the phenomenon of the use of different calligraphy or handwriting styles for personal names found in early official documents, arguing that it represents a signature, which was referred to as a “shuming” 署名 at the time. Signatures were typically placed on the original copy of the document by the senior official who had approved its contents. Afterward, the document would be copied by junior officials and distributed externally with the official seal of the senior official to guarantee its authenticity. This system had been widely implemented throughout the empire by at least the mid-Western Han dynasty. From the Western and Eastern Han dynasties to the Three Kingdoms period, the types of official documents requiring signatures continued to increase, and the signers expanded from senior officials to both higher and lower ranking junior officials, indicating that the use of signatures within administrative culture became more widespread. This was partly due to the growing recognition of handwriting and the proof of its validity being no less than that of a seal; in another respect, it was also due to the administrative requirements for finer decentralization and separation of responsibilities, especially for documents that involved multiple participating parties. Additionally, the development of signatures was also related to the writing materials used. During the era of bamboo slips and wooden tablets, seals were the primary means of authentication, but this also marked a period of significant growth for signatures. Lastly, this article discusses how the act of signing one’s “name” was related to the meaning of their name and reflects the stability of the tradition of official documents.
signatures; “shuming” 署名; seals; bamboo and wooden slips and tablets; authenticity
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