For those of us not familiar with Chinese business practices, is this an actual seal? Like someone would use to frank documents, or squish into hot wax to seal documents? Or is it a symbolic seal, like a legal document, or something else?
Presumably it comes out of personal seals which are a fun item to get if you're in China. I never interacted with someone who used them, but it's cool. See pictures at [2] and history at [3].
"Chop" is also frequently used instead of "seal". I assume its not onomatopoedic, but that is a fair description of the "thunk" sound produced to when the seal is quickly pounded against the document on the table.
[1] https://www.china-briefing.com/news/company-chops-in-china/
[2] https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/chinese-...
In Japan, the official "hanko" seal with red ink carries the force of a signature, but other seals do not carry as much or any legal weight.
https://www.nippon.com/en/features/jg00077/
That article talks a little bit about a similar system to the one I mentioned, where one seal is used for banking, one for title transactions, etc. Something like that but more customizable could be pretty useful.
i’m not surprised at this at all.
in the western context many executive assistants end up being appointed the executor of the ceo’s estate / will as a matter of business continuity.
A chairmanner can be declared by the board, and the power of his seal goes with that automatically.
Say, somebody steals a seal now...