yìn zhāng 印章

After weeks of searching I found a suitable seal last week in the Taichung jade market. I could not find a good one made in jade so opted for this one in soapstone which was the correct size with an interesting beast carved into the top. Having learnt a bit more about jade in the process it was clear that such a seal in a good quality jade would have cost 1000€ or more. The red stamp on the image shows how my seal should eventually look once I have figured out how to carve it. Watch this space for the first actual stamp.

I finally get my seal back from a local shop in Yuanlin with the carving complete. It has lost a few millimeters off the bottom due to some flaws in the soapstone but otherwise the seal is perfect. There was some confusion at first about which way round some of the characters should be but I have it on expert advice now that the final version is correct and readable. In fact the Chinese is pronounced "ja'en" (Jan) and means 'elegant' which I think is OK.

So it does not read as JAN - ART as intended but says instead ELEGANT - ART, however it is pronounced JAN - ART. Confused.

I was to begin Chinese lessons yesterday (081012) but the teacher did not turn up. So I and about 10 students where left wondering what happened ... Maybe teaching Chinese is just too hard even for a Chinese teacher ... :)