Seal, don't sign

Yesterday I went to Liúlí Chǎng, a street where a lot of traditional Chinese works of art and art accessories are sold. I got myself a seal (aka chop in English, called yìnzhāng in Mandarin). In the olden days in China, Japan, and Korea, people would use chops for identity verification, the way people use signatures today. There was even one seal that was seen as giving the possessor the Mandate of Heaven, A.K.A. the gods' approval to rule China. It was created in 221 BC, and continued to be seen as a powerful symbol until its loss more than 1100 years later. Anyways, I think imprinting my name on my homework is way cooler than just signing it, so that's what I'm going to do from now on. Click on the slide show below to see some pics of what I got and where I got it.