The Earliest "Guard Against The Leakage Of Official Documents"

The mud seal was popular in the pre Qin period and became popular in the Han Dynasty. At that time, both official letters and personal letters were mostly written on cardboard, bamboo slips and wooden slips. Bamboo slips have been unearthed in modern archaeology, such as the two earliest extant letters in China's Tomb of Qin Dynasty, No. four, Yunmeng, Hubei, which are written on wooden slips.

Bamboo slips can not be folded and written on it. Written words It's easy to see. Because of secrecy, the ancients invented a wooden plank covered with bamboo slips, which covered the contents of the text. This plank is the cover of the letter, and the ancients call it "check". The so-called "check" is released on the basis of the interpretation of Shiming and interpretation. They must not be opened. "Check" is actually the most primitive envelope in China, or the prototype of modern envelopes. In order to prevent anyone from opening "check" at random, there are three rope grooves on the "inspection", and a square groove is called in the center, which is called "India tooth". Then bind the rope tightly through the rope trench and seal, and fill it with a solid seal. When the mud is not dry, mark it on the top. After the sludge is dried, the "check" and "bamboo slips" are fixed together. If someone dismantling the seal, they will be found.

Later, someone will pass it on. Letter The wooden envelope was made into "carp like", so the Chinese folk music song "the Great Wall of the horses" was called "visitors from afar, sending me double carp." There is a book in the hu er cooked carp.

If file Not only is there a bamboo slips, it should be packed into cloth bags or bags, and then the bags can be tied tightly by the rope. The rope will also be entangled into the teeth and cover the seal of the seal to find the traces of the dismantled. The emperor of Han Dynasty, who had killed the imperial maiden Caomiya who had been lucky to be born, had sealed the imperial edict in the green bag, so that the eunuch field visitor could execute it. This is what the Han Dynasty biography Chuan Xiao Cheng Zhao empress said, "Zhonghuang gate Tian Ke Zhao Zhao Ji, Sheng Li Fang Fang, seal imperial history in the seal."

The packaging method of ancient bag bags inspired the modern postal service. Now the postal bags used in postal service are the replica of bag bags. The difference is that the seals are replaced by lead seals with better sealing effect and durability.

What needs to be explained is that in order to prevent the forgery forgery, there are strict rules for the material, size, shape, format and color of the packaging materials such as seal, seal, inspection, sac, rope and so on. It is easy to identify the authenticity, for example, in the Han Dynasty, the emperor used to seal the mud for "Wudu Purple mud" while the ordinary people could only "seal the book with mud."