As of yesterday, I think I can say that I am officially moved into my new apartment – my home for the next 10 months until the end of my Fulbright grant here. The semi-permanence is thrilling and also moderately troubling. I am already noticing downsides to the place, but I’m trying to quiet the little voices and remind them that I’ve already signed the lease so, why spend time cataloging the problems of a done deal?
Let’s back up to that “signing the lease” bit, because that’s something that I wanted to share. In the States, we notarize official documents with a signature. Somehow, statements of intention for everything from a credit card payment at the supermarket to opening a bank account to declaring an independent nation are trusted to the scribble that is supposedly unique to a person. Even though I have, of course, seen those crime investigation TV shows where the forensic scientists can prove forgery of a signature, I’ve always been skeptical of how good handwriting analysis actually is. A signature isn’t a very extensive sample of handwriting to sometimes play such important roles in legal transactions. And what about the fact that I’ve changed my “signature” at least 2 times that I can remember?
If you’re a skeptic of the signature, that’s okay because you can move to Taiwan! Here, official documents don’t rely on a signature as affirmation of intent from a person, but instead from the stamp of their personal seal. The seal, aka a “chop” (印章) is a stamp bearing the person’s name. It is generally square or round and always stamped in red. You’ve seen them before, even if you didn’t realize that you have – probably on the corner of paintings (in this case, the stamps indicate the artist or people who have bought the work).
I have really been enjoying this tiny, yet important facet of living in Taiwan. The practice of using name stamps or thumbprints is, by all common standards, “ancient”. It’s been a part of Chinese culture dating back thousands of years. Yet it’s still used as a part of every day official interactions. Sign the lease on my apartment? Stamp stamp stamp. Open a bank account? Stamping things everywhere!
When we first arrived, one of the many packets of goodies from the Fulbright commission included a chop with our Chinese name. I was pretty excited because I’ve always thought they were interesting. However, because I haven’t actually spent an extended amount of time in China or Taiwan and conducted complicated business transactions, I didn’t realize their usage beyond a novelty item until recently.
Of course, to get back to the topic that I first brought up – is a chop actually a secure way of notifying a document? I’m sure that it’s pretty straightforward to be able to connect any stamp from a particular chop to its origin. But then again, people also can change chops, just the way that they might change the way that they sign their name. Getting a new chop carved is perfectly normal – and there’s nothing to stop someone from getting someone else’s name carved… Maybe a forensic scientist in forgery would have a more certain answer. For now, I’m just going to say that I am greatly entertained by using a stamp instead of having to sign my name.
I’ve had a few conversations with Taiwanese people about it, and they seem to be equally as intrigued and confused that the rest of the world doesn’t use this technique to officiate documents.
Ps. I’m still trying to figure out what is the most appropriate posting frequency. I hope to walk the line between having an interesting amount of writing for personal reflection, and for those [strange] people who are interested in reading this to have some regularity, but also I hate the feeling of living life with the constant thought of how you will share it on the internet later.
>>(in this case, the stamps indicate the artist or people who have bought the work).
Actually, this has always surprised me more, since there’s not really much of a Western equivalent: “Hmm, I bought this piece of calligraphy: guess I’d better sign it”. Bookplates in libraries, I guess, but it’s not quite the same thing as the huge cluster of *other people’s chops* that fill up the last few feet of historically significant scrolls.