How did ancient official documents prevent counterfeiting?

From ancient times to the present, in the production and life of human beings, how to discard the false and retain the true is a problem that needs to be solved in every era. Even in ancient times when technology and culture were relatively backward, our ancestors tried their best to prevent counterfeiting. It is in this long history that the continuous accumulation and development of human wisdom has led to the development of anti-counterfeiting technology.

Let's see how the ancients prevented counterfeiting.

Combination of tiger symbols

Before the Qin dynasty unified the world, there were separatist regimes and wars in various places. Mastering military power is the supreme honor. You can give orders and dispatch troops. In order to prevent someone from spreading military orders falsely, the ancients invented the "tiger symbol", which was cast in the shape of a tiger with an inscription on the back and divided into two halves. Before the emperor sent troops, he divided the complete roller into two parts and gave half to the commander in chief.

The subtlety is that the two halves are specially designed with a "snap button", which must be completely consistent when verifying and become the first layer of anti-counterfeiting. Irregular bumps, pits and lines on the tiger symbol, just like passwords, become the second layer of anti-counterfeiting. In addition, there is a wrong gold inscription on the tiger symbol, that is, the inscription is engraved on it first, then the gold wire is embedded in the inscription, and finally the whole is polished to form the inscription. With these anti-counterfeiting measures, it is not so easy for others to forge tiger symbols!

Tiger counting

Sign or cross.

In ancient times when communication was underdeveloped, letters were an important channel for transmitting information. Everyone's handwriting is different and their characteristics are different. The ancients used simple handwriting anti-counterfeiting in daily life, but in commercial trade and law, it rose to the anti-counterfeiting technology of signing and writing.

Although there was no modern and superb fingerprint identification technology at that time, smart people have found that everyone's fingerprints and palm prints are different, so they become a sign of identity. Written evidence of ancient commodity transactions and charges of pleading guilty to serving the law should be signed and fingerprinted. We still use this method, but the database has evolved from paper to the Internet.

Anti-counterfeiting of painting and calligraphy

There were many literati in the Tang Dynasty, and the art of poetry, calligraphy and painting dominated. In order to prove "originality", many painters and painters will make some secrets or seals on their works. According to legend, Dai Song, a painter in the Tang Dynasty, was good at painting cows. When he observed the cows by a pond, he found a shepherd boy in the eyes of the cows, so all the cows he painted later had little shepherd boys in their eyes, which is very similar to today's miniature technology.

Cattle painted by Dai Song

Dai Song is not the only artist who uses this method. Many calligraphers will also carve their own unique seals when they finish their works.

The "identity card" of the ancients

The earliest "ID card" appeared in Qin State, and Shang Yang invented a "photo sticker", in which the holder's name, occupation, portrait and official seal were written on a bamboo board. It is said that when Shang Yang fled, he was reported and arrested because he could not produce his own "photo post".

In the Tang Dynasty, the styles of "ID cards" were more abundant, including free symbols, fish symbols, turtle symbols and Long Fu. Among them, the symbol of fish is the most popular. The fish symbol is divided into two parts, the symbol on the left is put in the palace as a stub, and the symbol on the right is carried by the holder as identification. Song Gaocheng recorded this in the Times of Events.

In order to prevent the "ID card" from being stolen, an anti-counterfeiting mark was also invented-a fish bag was assigned to the fish symbol or different "ID cards" were made to represent different people. At the same time, you must have a bag to prove your identity. Later, Wu Zetian changed the symbol of fish to that of turtle. In the Tang poetry, it is said that marrying a rich husband for no reason disappointed Xiangzi. The rich husband here refers to the person with the symbol of scarab.

Banknote anti-counterfeiting

In ancient times, there were no anti-counterfeiting technologies such as security lines and watermarks. How to prevent coins from being forged? The commodity economy was developed in Song Dynasty, and the world's earliest paper money "Jiaozi" was issued in Sichuan. In the Song Dynasty, in order to prevent counterfeit banknotes, the printed banknotes were made of "Junpi" Sichuan paper, and private purchases were not allowed-this is a special paper anti-counterfeiting law.

The cross pattern is composed of "wooden figures", and the frame of the pattern is made outside, which is complicated and difficult for counterfeiters to imitate. Later, red, blue, black and other colors were used to overprint patterns and official seals, which was probably the beginning of two-color and multi-color overprinting-pattern anti-counterfeiting law.

In the Yuan Dynasty, banknotes not only used special materials, special patterns and seals of management institutions, but also printed warning messages of "Forger's beheading" in a prominent position in the central government, which played a deterrent role.

Cross mode

Trademark anti-counterfeiting law

With the germination and development of commodity economy, some primary "trademarks" have also appeared. According to legend, there was a shoemaker named Ren Ichiro in the Song Dynasty, with superb skills and prosperous business. However, counterfeit goods soon appeared to disrupt the market. In order to crack down on counterfeiting, Ren Ichiro hid a piece of cloth in his shoes. The cloth not only writes the manufacturing time of the shoes, but also the corresponding number, which is simply a modern anti-counterfeiting trademark. This Trademark Counterfeiting Law has also been imitated by the business community.

In ancient times, there were also some laws to combat counterfeiting. For example, the Tang Dynasty had comprehensive supervision over food safety, formulated detailed punishment measures for counterfeiters, and even had a "return" system.

watermark

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, anti-counterfeiting technology by going up one flight of stairs, especially for the "imperial edict". The cloth of the imperial edict is very exquisite, all of which are fine silk brocade and exquisite embroidery. There are flying silver dragons at both ends of the imperial edict as "anti-counterfeiting" signs. Silk cloth is covered with auspicious clouds, just like today's anti-counterfeiting watermark. And the first word at the beginning of all imperial edicts should be printed on the first auspicious cloud in the upper right corner. In order to show the authenticity of the imperial edict, the emperor's seal will be affixed. The material, sealing method and layout of the seal are extremely fine. Unless it is stolen, it is generally difficult to forge it.

Ming dynasty imperial edict

Test key

In Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants used encryption technology to prevent counterfeiting. Cryptography, in short, is a kind of cryptography in which Chinese characters represent numbers. Setting up a seemingly unrelated language system is an inexplicable gobbledygook to outsiders, but it is actually a hidden mystery. Secret information such as date and amount of money can be read through certain rules. Every once in a while, the password will change, increasing the difficulty of decoding, thus achieving the effect of "anti-counterfeiting".

For example, 300 sets of passwords of Rishengchang Bank in 1995 were changed from 1826 to 192 1. According to historical records, there was no case of being impersonated.

Modern anti-counterfeiting

The ancients used rich wisdom and meticulous thinking to constantly improve the anti-counterfeiting technology. In modern times, with the development of industrial civilization and mass production of goods, anti-counterfeiting technology has become more important.

Compared with ancient times, modern anti-counterfeiting technology is more abundant, the update iteration speed is faster, and it has the traceability of "hard binding", which greatly improves the brand protection and anti-counterfeiting ability. For example, there are laser tags, temperature change tags and inquiry digital anti-counterfeiting tags. Consumers can inquire about the anti-counterfeiting situation of digital labels by telephone, short message and internet, and can also inquire about the anti-counterfeiting situation of two-dimensional code labels commonly used in the market.

From these historical anti-counterfeiting stories, we can easily find that almost all technologies are setting a "threshold" to prevent being copied and imitated. However, in fact, even today, most anti-counterfeiting technologies have not really achieved the effect of "easy identification but difficult imitation"