The Xiling Seal Art Society () is a Chinese arts organisation based in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whic ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

Province, PRC. It was founded in 1904 but, with antecedents dating back to the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

and Qing dynasties, is one of China's most important traditional stone seal engraving associations.

Alternative names

Other possible translations include the Xiling Seal Society, Hsi-ling Seal Society, Xiling Seal Engraving Society, Xiling Seal Engraver's Society, or Xiling Epigraphy Society.

History

Pre-society history

During the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...

the most famous seal engraver was the scholar and artist Wang Mian, who is credited with first using soft stone for seal making. During the

and Qing dynasties seal engraving flourished in China, especially in the

Yangtze River Delta The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD, or simply ) is a triangle-shaped megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The area lies in the heart of the Jiangnan reg ...

region, where there was a continuous rich artistic tradition. There were many different schools of seal making and many independent artists specialized in seal cutting,

seal script Seal script, also sigillary script () is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynasty bronze script. The Qin variant of seal ...

calligraphy, and the selection of seal stones. In South China, the three major schools of seal engraving during these periods were the ''Hui School'' (whose artists mainly came from current

Anhui Province Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

), the ''Zhe School'' (whose artists mainly came from current Zhejiang Province), and the ''Hai School'' (which was mainly developed in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, and whose major artists came from current

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

and Zhejiang Provinces). The Hui School was already a mature seal engraving school as early as the Ming dynasty, especially during the

Jiajing Jiajing () (28 January 1522 – 8 February 1567) was the era name of the Jiajing Emperor, the 12th emperor of the Ming dynasty of China. Comparison table Other eras contemporaneous with Jiajing * China ** ''Tianyuan'' (天淵, 1546): Ming peri ...

and

Wanli Wanli was the era name of the Chinese Ming dynasty. Wanli may also refer to: *Wanli Emperor (1563–1620), the 14th emperor of the Chinese Ming dynasty *Wanli District, Nanchang, district of Nanchang, Jiangxi, China *Wanli District, New Taipei, a ...

eras. The most famous seal makers during the early phase of this school were Xiu Ning (休宁) and He Zhen, who were active in the mid–late Ming dynasty. During the

Kangxi The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...

Yongzheng , regnal name = , posthumous name = Emperor Jingtian Changyun Jianzhong Biaozhen Wenwu Yingming Kuanren Xinyi Ruisheng Daxiao Zhicheng Xian()Manchu: Temgetulehe hūwangdi () , temple name = Shizong()Manchu: Šidzung () , house = Aisin Gioro ...

Qianlong The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his Temple name, temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth List of emperors of the Qing dynasty, Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing empe ...

era of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

the second climax of this school appeared, and the most typical representative artist during this period was Cheng Sui from

She County, Anhui She County (), or Shexian, is a county in the southeast of Anhui Province, China, bordering Zhejiang Province to the east. It is the easternmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Huangshan City. It has a population of 363,000 ...

. In the late Qing dynasty this school had its third climax of development and influenced engravers from outside Anhui. Typical figures of this third phase were Huang Shiling (黄士陵), Yi Dachang (易大厂), Qiao Dazhuang (乔大壮), Wang Fu'an (王福庵), and Li Yisang (李尹桑). The Zhe School ( 浙派) first became famous and influential during the Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty. The main founder of this school was Ding Jing ( 丁敬). Ding made his school the dominant seal engraving school during his time. Because Ding was a native of Xiling and active in Xiling for a long time, a society was later formally organized with its headquarters in Xiling named the Xiling Seal Society. Ding's most accomplished students were Jiang Ren (蒋仁), Huang Yi (黄易), Xi Gang (奚冈), Chen Yuzhong (陈豫钟),

Chen Hongshou Chen Hongshou (1598–1652), formerly romanized as Ch'en Hung-shou, was a Chinese painter of the late Ming dynasty. Life Chen was born in Zhuji, Zhejiang province in 1598, during the Ming dynasty. His courtesy name was Zhanghou (章侯), and hi ...

(陈鸿寿), Zhao Zhishen (赵之琛), and Qian Song (钱松), who are now widely regarded as the Eight Masters of Xiling. The Hai School or ''Shanghai School'' of seal arts is the most recent school and mainly started developing during the late Qing dynasty. This school in fact combined different styles of previous schools, especially those artistic elements of the Hui and Zhe Schools. It's mainly considered as a modern school of seal art.Modern Hai School of Seal Art
Early important artists from this school are Qian Shoutie (钱瘦铁), Wu Hufan ( 吴湖帆), Huang Baoyue (黄葆戉), Bai Jiao (白蕉), Ma Gongyu (马公愚), Qin Bomo (秦伯未), Hua Ji'an (华笃安), Zhu Hongda (朱鸿达), Wu Zhongjiong (吴仲坰); Tang Linze (汤临泽), Chen Zili (陈子彝), Qin Kangxiang (秦康祥), Wu Youqian (吴幼潜), Jin Tiezhi (金铁芝), Zhi Ci'an (支慈庵), Lai Chusheng (来楚生), Hou Fuchang (侯福昌), and Gao Luoyuan (高络园).

Establishment of the society

Before the establishment of the society there were many local or small-sized organizations or artists groups existing, especially in Zhejiang and Shanghai, however, it was not formally registered nor recognized by the government (nonofficial). The seal artists from different schools and places first founded the Xiling Seal Society as a large/national and academic society of learning, research, and art in 1904. The first board of directors included Ding Ren (丁仁), Wang Shi (王禔), Wu Yin (吴隐), and Ye Ming (叶铭). The first President of the society was Wu Changshuo ( 吴昌硕), a famous scholar, calligraphist, painter, seal maker, and writer from the Hai School.

List of presidents

* Wu Changshuo (吴昌硕) * Ma Heng ( 马衡) *

Zhang Zongxiang Zhang may refer to: Chinese culture, etc. * Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname ** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname * Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu * Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan * ''Z ...

(张宗祥) * Sha Menghai (沙孟海) *

Zhao Puchu Zhao Puchu (November 5, 1907 – May 21, 2000) was a religious and public leader who promoted cultural progress and religious tolerance in China. Zhao was best known as president of the Buddhist Association of China and also one of the most ...

(赵朴初) * Qi Gong (启功) * Rao Zongyi (饶宗颐)

Current situation

The headquarters of the society are located on the western side of Gushan Hill ( 孤山) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Gushan Hill is an island in the north of

West Lake West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and natural/artificial islands within the lake. Gushan (孤山) is the largest natural ...

. From the top of the hill people can get a very nice view of the lake and enjoy its beautiful landscapes. To the northeast of Gushan is the famous Bai Causeway ( 白堤) named after

Bai Juyi Bai Juyi (also Bo Juyi or Po Chü-i; ; 772–846), courtesy name Letian (樂天), was a renowned Chinese poet and Tang dynasty government official. Many of his poems concern his career or observations made about everyday life, including as g ...

, a famous poet and governor of

. To the west is the Xiling Bridge. The society has several museums of seals and seal-related arts on the mountain. It also owns many old buildings mainly built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. There is also a pool and several caves on the mountain. Every year artists get together there to discuss art. The artists are mainly from Japan, China,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. There are also many exhibitions and activities on the mountain annually. The famous

China Academy of Art China Academy of Art (), also translated as China National Academy of Fine Arts, was founded in Hangzhou in 1928 by the government of the Republic of China and the renowned educator Cai Yuanpei. It was the first art university and first gradua ...

is also not far from the site of the society. The

Zhongshan Park Zhongshan Park () is a common name for Chinese parks, in honour of Sun Yat-sen, better-known in Chinese as Sun Zhongshan, who is considered by many to be the " Father of modern China". Currently there are more than 40 Zhongshan Parks in China, and ...

of Hangzhou is quite nearby. The society and its facilities are now listed as one of the Major Sites Protected at the National Level of China. File:Hangzhou Xiling Yinshe 20120520-02.jpg File:Hangzhou Xiling Yinshe 20120520-03.jpg File:Hangzhou Xiling Yinshe 20120520-04.jpg File:Hangzhou Xiling Yinshe 20120520-06.jpg File:Hangzhou Xiling Yinshe 20120520-07.jpg

References

External links

Official website of Xiling Society

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xiling Chinese seal art Chinese art Research institutes in China Art schools in China Tourist attractions in Hangzhou Art societies Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Zhejiang 1904 establishments in China