“Bronze Pillar” Inkstick

This inkstick was produced by order of Wu Dacheng to commemorate his 1886 negotiations of the Sino-Russian border to clarify the boundary between China and Russia. The inkstick was made to mimic the shape of the actual bronze pillar erected there. Wu Dacheng was not only the official who carried out the diplomatic orders to negotiate on behalf of the Qing Government, he was also the calligrapher who wrote the inscription on the bronze pillar. The fifty-eight characters were written in “seal script” 篆书 (zhuanshu), an archaic calligraphy style that was promulgated during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), when China was first unified. China’s issues negotiating new national territorial boundaries began with a series of treaties signed with Western countries like Britain, France, and Russia after the Opium Wars, and extended into the 20th century. -Written by Yichen Wang

INSCRIPTION:

光绪十二年四月, 都察院左副都御史吴大澂, 珲春副都统依克唐阿, 奉命会勘中俄边界, 既竣事, 立此铜柱。 铭曰： ‘疆域有志国有维, 此柱可立不可移’。

In the 4th month of the 12th year of the Guangxu emperor’s reign, Wu Dacheng, the Senior Vice Censor-in-Chief, and Iktangga, Vice Commander-in-Chief of Hunchun, acted under imperial order to account for and investigate the Sino-Russian border. Once the mission was complete they erected a bronze pillar there with the following inscription: ‘The purpose of territorial boundaries is to preserve the integrity of the country. This pillar establishes that boundary and shall not be moved.’