Studies On Ba Seal Society

During the Anti-Japanese War, a galaxy of people in literary and art circles gathered in Chongqing, the wartime capital. It was the ancient tradition for literary people to form associations, which played an important role in promoting the development and flourish of culture. During the time of resistance against Japanese aggression, the importance of cultural heritage became ever more obvious. Ba Seal Society founded in wartime Chongqing played a distinctive role in and exerted a remarkable influence upon the seal world in the 20th century China. Because of the war, members of Ba Seal Society gathered together and conducted exchanges, making unique contributions to the heritance and post-war development of seal cutting. Members of the seal society include Zhu Jingyuan from Wu County, Xu Wenjing from Linhai, Chen Jingxian from Wuchang, Huang Xiaoyun from Yuzhou, Gao Yueqiu from Jiangpu, Zeng Shaojie from Xiangxiang, Jiang Weisong from Wujin, and Xie Meinu from Changsha. Friends of the seal society include Qiao Dazhuang, Tan Zuishi, Zhang Shizhao, Pan Boying, Shen Yinmo, Sha Menghai, Lu Yihong, and other people.This paper, first of all, studies the name of Ba Seal Society and its member composition, and then, in consideration of the wartime background when groups of literary people moved to Chongqing, the lives of society members, their teachers and sources of seal cutting skills, the exchanges in Chongqing among members and friends of the society, and the publication of the society Seal Collections of Ba Seal Society. The paper goes further to deal with the role that the members of the society played after they scattered to all parts of the country, especially after the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, in the development of local seal cutting arts. Finally, the paper investigates what the members achieved in seal cutting tradition heritance and the styles of their creations.All members and friends of the society have passed away. The author visited and interviewed the offspring and students of some members and recorded the oral history, trying to fully reconstruct the past society, and analyze their works, so as to present the status and influence of Ba Seal Society in the history of seal cutting.