You can have them cut for NT$50 at street-corner stalls or get them elegantly carved in jade or other semi-precious stones. Seals are still an integral part of Taiwanese life, but their significance is gradually changing as signatures gradually replace the seal as a means of confirming a transaction.
For Lonmen Lucky Stamp (
In a time of economic downturn, those who take seals seriously are primarily interested in their ability to bring good fortune. And this isn't something for uneducated country bumpkins either.
The majority of its customers are not, as you might expect, tradition-minded country folk, but urban business people and government officials of various ranks.
"It seems that the more educated and better-off people are, the more they care about their fortunes," said Chen Tian-zang (
And in these times of economic gloom, people care more than ever. Despite the prevalent cries of poverty, Lonmen has no difficulty in disposing of a pair of rectangular and cylindrical jade seals for NT$36,000. At Lonmen, even the most common type of lucky seals are priced between NT$1,500 and NT$5,000 a piece.
While the average seal maker cuts maybe a couple of seals a day, Yang Feng-yin (
Lonmen started 10 years ago in Taichung, working only through mail order. It has now fanned out into 20 branches in shopping malls in Taiwan's major cities. Five to 10 more branches are scheduled to open in Taipei alone.
It all started with a promotional activity at Taichung's Far East Department store six years ago, when Lonmen staff -- all trained in the art of fortune-telling -- were asked to provide astrology sessions as prizes for shoppers. Over the ten-day promotion, Lonmen grossed more than a NT$1 million. From then on, Chen decided that setting up in swank department stores and malls was the way to go.
"Big malls are the place to be. Individual workshops are going downhill. Malls are where crowds gather and where we can reach out to the largest possible public," Chen said.
The seal company's success story has attracted the attention of both the Chinese media and business analysts, who wonder how Lonmen had managed to bring in over NT$100 million a year in revenues from what is perceived as a very unfashionable industry.
Other peolpe's luck
It all has to do with luck -- other people's luck. Yang, the creative spirit behind the enterprise, started thinking about "lucky seals" as an alternative to "aesthetic seals" back in the 1980s.
"It's hard to achieve the artistic mastery of our ancestors. In ancient days, a craftsman did nothing but carve seals all his life, but nowadays we have too many distractions," said Yang.
He felt that lucky seals would have a much bigger market. "Artistic seals are hard to sell. Few people know how to appreciate them nowadays. But everyone needs good luck. They all have some use for seals which can bring good luck."
The encounter between Chen and Yang 10 years ago changed both their lives. Then a real estate dealer, Chen had Yang make a lucky seal for him. Yang's theory about the close connection between a seal and the fate of its master touched Chen so deeply that he decided to join in a project, broached by Yang and his friend Tzai Ruei-min (蔡瑞銘, present chairman of the company board), to establish a seal-making company.
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