The Xiling Seal Cutting Society, once dubbed the most famous in the nation, celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding Tuesday in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.
The celebrations attracted as many as 2,000 artists, calligraphers and fans at home and abroad, who gathered at the society located on the foot of a mountain by the well-known West Lake.
The society was initiated in 1904 by four artists. With about 300 members at home and abroad, it has significant influence in the country as well as southeast Asia.
Thanks to efforts of the society and government, the state-level China's Sphragistics Museum was set up in 1999 and has received over 300,000 visitors since then.
Seal cutting is an indispensable part of Chinese traditional art.
(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2003)
