The Imperial Seal
In 221 BC, Qin conquered the other six Warring States and founded the Qin Dynasty; the He Shi Bi was then taken from the last duke of Zhao by Emperor Yin Zheng (who was known as the Qin Shi Huangdi of the Qin Empire), who ordered it made into his Imperial seal. The words, "Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may (the emperor) lead a long and prosperous life." (受命於天，既壽永昌) were written by Li Si (who was Prime Minister, Chief Councillor, State Chancellor and Premier of the Empire of Qin), and carved onto the seal by a man named Sun Shou. When Colonel Liu Bang attacked Xianyang, Ziying handed the jade over as a way of surrendering. This seal was to be passed on even as the dynasties rose and fell, but was lost between Tang and Ming.
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Famous quotes containing the words imperial and/or seal:
“Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.
“To believe in something not yet proved and to underwrite it with our lives: it is the only way we can leave the future open. Man, surrounded by facts, permitting himself no surmise, no intuitive flash, no great hypothesis, no risk, is in a locked cell. Ignorance cannot seal the mind and imagination more surely.”
—Lillian Smith (1897–1966)