A Century Of Research On The Development Of Taiwanese Seal Cutting

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the cultural progress brought about by the official stationed on Taiwan Island was the main reason.Tainan and Taipei were the cultural core of Taiwan's seal cutting.Most of the seal cutters originated in Fujian,and most of them were learned from Anhui and Zhejiang.During the period of Japanese occupation,there were two factions,Japanese and Taiwanese seal cutters.Although Japanese cutters had abundant activities,they did not exert a deeper influence on Taiwan because they had been suppressing and excluding Taiwanese seal cutters.Dai Shoukan was an important person of the early period of restoration.He believed that only by uniting could we have strength and open a new era for the development in the early stage of the revival.The early stage of revival was the pioneering period of Taiwan's seal cutting.The development depended on the concerted efforts of the printers in various societies and organizations to promote rich artistic activities,basic education of seal engraving,publishing of seal engraving publications and books,etc..In the mid-revival period,problems such as insufficient learning materials,insufficient teaching resources and fewer seal carving materials were gradually exposed.They used their expertise to solve these problems in the process of development.They set up academies,improve publishing,digitalize materials,search for good and inexpensive alternative chapters,launched public lectures sand so on.The contemporary Taiwanese seal engravers have gradually embarked on a formal academic path.This kind of comfortable artistic world caused the author to feel the hidden worry.In the three historical stages after the restoration,from opening up wasteland,leaving everything to be done,to striving for construction,contemporary Taiwanese are enjoying the fruits of their predecessors' victory,and it seems difficult to make such a great breakthrough as before.After the restoration of Taiwan,the activities of the press were mainly divided into three aspects:association,publishing and education.Community activities were the most important part,because they directly or indirectly drove the development of publishing and education.Throughout history,politics,economy and culture had always influenced the development of seal cutting art in Taiwan,but the predecessors had been trying to solve all kinds of difficulties in the development of seal cutting art.The contemporary seal cutters were gradually moving towards the road of"emphasizing technology rather than art" and lacking of basic education and theoretical research,which was a real worry for the further development.