In recent years, Xu Chang has made more and more fruitful achievements in the study of printing, which has attracted widespread attention in the book circle. This is the inevitable result of his decades of silent cultivation and accumulation. The author learned that Xu Chang's name was in early 1992. At that time, he was invited by Wu Jinquan, president of Taiwan Province Yinlin magazine. As the editor-in-chief, he asked my tutor, Professor Xu Wuwen, for a special edition manuscript. The teacher asked me to help sort out his printing and write an introduction article. Of course, I was flattered and overjoyed. From this, I wrote to Xu Chang and got a preliminary understanding of his earnest attitude in doing things. In September, 1995, the "First National Symposium on Seal Cutting Theory" sponsored by China Calligraphy Association was held in Suzhou. Xu Chang's paper "An Examination of the Official Seal in the Spring and Autumn Period" won the "Excellent Paper Award", and the author also had some clumsy articles among the excellent papers, so he attended the meeting and took this opportunity to meet Xu Chang. The first impression he gave me was that he was tall, with a loud voice and a strong look in his eyes, which seemed to show his persistent spirit of studying. During the conversation, I learned that he was born in Chengdu in 1941 and moved to Nanjing in 1946. He was trained by the court and had a good understanding of calligraphy and seal cutting. In 1961, he learned from Tan Yuese, a famous painter and seal cutter, and embarked on the road of art. Although we met for the first time, in this short conversation, he didn't show people by the way of elders, but treated them with sincerity, gentleness and simplicity; Talk about the past and discuss the present, get it off your chest quickly, never be mysterious, just be a scholar.

In p>1999, Xu Chang began to compile The Complete Works of China's Calligraphy 92 Pre-Qin Seal. Thanks to him, he asked me to help him sort out the "Summary Table of Selected Events of Pre-Qin Seal" to compose the end of the Complete Works. As a graduate student, I know this is an opportunity for me to learn, because he had an outline of "major events" in the process of collecting information! About the autumn of 2, when I visited his house to further discuss the details of "Selected Events", what I saw really surprised me! I saw file (data) bags everywhere on the dining table, sofa, desk lamp in the living room, bookcases, beds and cabinets in the room. It can be said that there are everywhere that can be placed, and it is roughly estimated that there are no less than one hundred! I was suddenly moved by this rigorous and tireless spirit of studying. Seeing is believing! I also know a thing or two about compiling books, but it's the first time I've met such a devoted person as Xu Chang. Sure enough, everything comes to him who waits. When we talked about the details of "Selected Events", he took out some materials from those portfolios from time to time to prove it, and its accuracy and speed were amazing. I remember at that time, he also talked about some interesting questions found in the process of compilation. For example, the "Fire Seal" in the Shanghai Museum is very similar to the bronze ge imprint of the three-point vortex pattern in Xincun, Xun County, which clearly dates the tombs in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was also found in the car kiln from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Warring States Period. If the "Fire Seal" is used to seal documents, does it mean "express delivery"? Another example is the rectangular cinnabar imprint on the rectangular brocade unearthed from the Chu Tomb of the Warring States Period in Zuojiatang, Changsha in 1957, and the similar imprint on the tower brocade unearthed from the No.1 Chu Tomb in Mashan, Jiangling, which reveals that the inkpad made of cinnabar was applied to silks, which started in the middle of the Warring States Period and was gradually developed from this. Although these questions are inferred from historical facts, they fully reflect Xu Chang's profound knowledge. He is good at thinking and can make practical inferences based on facts (arguments). It's really "a word with you is better than reading for ten years"! His scholarship is really "clever in understanding, quick in thinking and diligent in doing things" (in Yan Gongda).

Xu Chang's academic research covers a wide range, and the research results of ancient seals in the pre-Qin period are the richest and the greatest contribution. I can often listen to Xu Chang's teachings and benefit a lot, especially after reading his works. According to the author's humble opinion, Xu Chang's contribution to the study of ancient seal is mainly in the following three aspects:

1. Textual research on Shang seal to prove its origin

In 193s, Huang Fu (Bochuan), an antique dealer who respected ancient Zhai in Beiping, compiled 42 rubbings of unearthed antiquities collected in Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province into a book "Ye Zhong Pian Yu", and the first and second episodes included three bronze objects. Later, Yu Shengwu, a famous ancient writer, identified it as a commercial seal according to the land unearthed in Yin Ruins and the clan emblem of ancient Austria, and it was included in his "Double Sword Enough Ancient Artifacts Catalogue" in 194 (no explanation), which caused an uproar in the archaeological circles at that time, because the identification of these three commercial seals broke the old saying that the academic circles only knew that Xiyin was a new thing in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. However, the interpretation of these three commercial seals has always been an unsolved case. In 1983, Xu Chang spent three years collecting and studying the Oracle bone inscriptions, Zhong Ding inscriptions, literature and history materials available for reference in Nanjing University Library, History Department Reference Room and Nanjing Library Ancient Books Department, and in 1986, he wrote Textual Research on Shang Xi and participated in the Second National Calligraphy Seminar sponsored by China Calligraphy Association, which attracted the attention of fellow experts. This paper quotes a large number of ancient Chinese characters such as Sun Yirang's Examples of Qiwen, Sun Haibo's Oracle Bone Inscriptions Compilation, Tang Lan's Textual Research on Tianrang Pavilion and Oracle Bone Inscriptions's Preservation, Hu Houxuan's Series on the History of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Ruan Yuan's Notes on Zhong Ding Yi Qi, and proves that the first commercial seal is Ya Qin Shi, and the second commercial seal is Zi Gen Ai. It further proves the credibility of the origin of Xi seal in Shang Dynasty from many aspects. Great contribution. In the autumn of 1998, a gluttonous bronze seal with layers of Yin ruins was unearthed in the courtyard of Water Conservancy Bureau in Xijiao City, Anyang City. Its shape and casting process are almost similar to those of the previous three Shang seals, which supplements the hard evidence for Xu Chang's textual research. On the textual research and interpretation of other ancient seals, Xu Chang also has new ideas from time to time, such as the published Five Questions on the Textual Research and Interpretation of Ancient Seals (see the Second Collection of Essays on Ancient Chinese Characters), the seal of the seal and the seal of the seal-from the seal of the seal to the seal of the name image (see

second, the ancient seal is divided into domains, and the dating link

The ancient seal is the official and private seal before the reunification of Qin. The study of ancient seals was gradually formed from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China. In the fifty-second year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (AD 1787), Cheng Yaotian, Anhui Province, wrote "A Preface to the Seal House Seal", and began to recognize the word "private seal" in the ancient seal, but failed to specify its age. Later, the printed spectrum began to list the first category of "ancient seal" (such as "The Ancient Seal of Qingyige" in 1828 and "The Seal of Shuangyu Pottery" in 1862. As for the research on the division of ancient seals, it rose in the 197s and 198s. This research originated from the textual research on the ancient seal and other Warring States scripts, starting with the ancient seal characters collected by Suzhou Wu Dacheng in the 9th year of Guangxu (AD 1883), followed by Luo Zhenyu, Wang Guowei, Luo Fuyi and Huang Binhong. After liberation, especially after the Cultural Revolution, the study of ancient seal characters entered a climax, with famous scholars including Li Xueqin, Ye Qifeng, Qiu Xigui, Ma Guoquan, Wu Zhenwu, He Linyi, Cao Jinyan, Tang Yuhui, etc., among which Qiu Xigui's "City in Warring States Characters" and Ye Qifeng's "Country and Related Issues of Warring States Official Seals" opened up a new field for the study of ancient seals. However, Li Xueqin's "Five Series" of Warring States Characters (Sanjin, Qin, Yan, Qi and Chu) are mostly used for reference by researchers of ancient seals. Of course, the division of ancient seals not only depends on the characteristics of local characters during the Warring States period, but also takes into account the characteristics of ancient seals themselves, such as size, manufacturing technology, composition design, and changes in font methods. Xu Chang adopted the materialist dialectics of concrete analysis of this specific problem, referred to the fruits of many scholars' research, and with his own profound academic support and rigorous academic attitude, he put his ideas into full play, and borrowed the word "public seal" in Qin Bamboo Slips of Sleeping Tiger Land to put the ancient seals of the Warring States unearthed or left over the years in the five series of "Chu, Qi, Yan, Sanjin and Qin". In addition, all kinds of imprints that have been developed for many years are arranged in turn, and they are reasoned and demonstrated, thus successfully linking the research on the dating of seals in Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States, enabling people to clearly distinguish the development and evolution of ancient seals, and pushing the vertical research of ancient seals to another peak.

iii. Illustration of Ancient Seals, Mutual Proof between India and History

With the deepening of the research on ancient seals, the academic value contained in ancient seals has been gradually excavated from multiple levels and angles. In its initial stage, scholars mostly used the names of people, places and officials in the unearthed ancient seals to research the identity, social status and surname pedigree of the tomb owner, and then extended to research the evolution and relationship of official positions and official systems in pre-Qin countries and the exploration of ancient historical geography, which solved some problems left over from history, some of which were mutually verified with historical materials, and some of which supplemented the lack of literature records. In the 197s and 198s, the study of ancient seals went into an in-depth stage, and its focus basically fell on the study of ancient characters. Some ancient philologists combined with other ancient characters to test and release many words that were difficult to read in ancient seals, thus sorting out the origin and characteristics of some ancient seal characters and laying the foundation for the division of ancient seal. In recent years, the above research on ancient seal is still continuing and developing. However, Mr. Xu Chang is ingenious and has taken a different approach, using the legend of ancient seal to investigate the music, textile, medical care and other aspects of the pre-Qin period, so that seal and history can prove each other. Opened another window for the study of ancient seals. He has published four papers in the journal Seal Cutting, and made a systematic and in-depth analysis of the silk weaving and official positions of Chu, the guidance of Qigong in the pre-Qin period, the impressions on pottery, and the music officials in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. It shows the practical function of the ancient seal in many ways, reproduces some historical features that have not been clarified (such as the division of labor and management of the weaving industry in Chu state), and leaves some foreshadowing for further study by the author himself or others in the future. For example, "the Qin clay unearthed in the northern suburbs of Xi 'an in recent years provided rich information for the establishment of music officials in the pre-Qin period. Chu, which pays more attention to rites and music than Qin, must have a more perfect system of music officials. Unfortunately, people know very little about it, so they can only wait for time, in order to find more materials without loving treasures "(see" The Fourth Illustration of Xi Yin in Pre-Qin Dynasty-Music Officials in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty ").

Xu Chang is gentle and affectionate. He is simple and quiet, thoughtful and persistent in his studies, and will certainly make more and greater breakthroughs in ancient seals and other research fields.