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【中文标题】中国的印章学问
【原文标题】Mastering the Chinese Chop System
【登载媒体】纽约时报
【原文作者】DEB WEIDENHAMER
【原文链接】http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/mastering-the-chinese-chop-system/
小小的印章蕴含着巨大的权力。
假如说把你签字的权利交给所有人会怎样？
有些美国商人会把自己的签名刻成印章，让自己信赖的助理使用，但是这和把自己签字的权利交给办公室里所有的人可不一样。
这基本上就是中国印章体系的运作规则。正式的文件很少像西方那样用一个签字就可以生效，而是需要一个预先刻好的印章。
印章文化可以追溯到公元前1000年，它已经从最早的蜡制印章演化成现代的不需要印泥的印章，但依然承载着几千年来的作用。一份盖有公司印章的文件是这个公司代表——通常情况下是公司的所有人——的书面承诺。
当我在中国做生意的时候，发现很难探寻印章体制背后的含义。在本地人看来，这就是一个不需要更多解释的通行做法。但小小的印章蕴含着巨大的权力。利用这枚印章，一个人可以改变你的中国公司的股权结构，甚至可以让这家公司“移交”给另外一个组织或者个人。
我的第一任中国总经理让我吸取了一个教训。当我要求他辞职时，他拒绝交出公司的印章，他说：“谁掌握公司的章，谁就掌握这家公司——看你怎么办。”（最后，经过无数次辛苦的谈判，我总算把印章要回来了。“
不同类型的印章有不同的作用，下面简要介绍几种常见的印章。
－ 公司章用来签署具有法律效力的合同。这种印章的所有者被认为是具有决定公司生死存亡的关键性人物。
－ 合同章通常由销售人员使用，用来与客户签署合同。它的持有人的权力稍小于公司章的持有人权力，而且也不是必须要使用的。
－ 财务章用来操作与银行之间的资金往来，包括支票兑现和电子转账。
－ 发票章要盖在公司出具的所有发票上。如果没有发票，客户就无法向税务部门申报经营情况。
－ 个人章就是公司法人的人名章，有时候被当作信上的签名。这并不是一个模仿手写签字的印章，而仅仅是一个人名字的规范字体印章。
人名章。
我不是中国永久性居民，所以我把印章交给常驻在上海办公室的两名美国经理保管。他们每次使用印章，都要在一张表格上记录日期、用途、盖章人等信息。你可以想想你在美国每天签字的频率，就可以知道我们做了多少工作。
印章制度存在着很多固有的风险，但有一个优点我非常喜欢：在多份文件上加盖的“骑缝章”。
一般情况下给文件盖章时，只会盖在最后一页。所以从严格意义上说，只有最后一页的一小段文字才是真正被认可的。而骑缝章可以在所有页上同时加盖。
骑缝章。
之后你可以把页面排列整齐检查骑缝章是否完整，这样可以知道是否有某一页被替换了。
这样的用途对我这个不懂中文的人非常重要。我让人把公司的文件逐段翻译成中文，每一段前面是中文，后面是英文。
但是中国的法院对于两种语言的合同持一种有趣的态度，即要以中文释义为准，而且外国人的证词不被采信。
在我准备制作公司印章时，遇到了一个像二十二条军规那样的困境。你需要先注册一家中国公司才可以刻章，但你必须先有章才能在注册公司的申请文件上加盖。所以，要拿到章，你得找一个与刻章公司有关系的律师帮忙，他们能让你在公司注册完成之前先拿到章。
这套制度看起来既古老又运转不灵。但是对我这个名字中有21个字母的人来说，总还是有一个好处：印章能有效避免我的腕骨劳损。
原文：
That little stamp grants great power.
Imagine giving away your signature and allowing anyone to use it.
Some American business owners have signature stamps that are shared with a trusted assistant, but that is very different from handing over your signatory authority to everyone in the office.
That’s essentially how China’s chop system works. Documents are rarely ratified in the Western manner with a physical signature. Instead, a printed seal — a chop — is affixed.
Chops date back to 1000 B.C. They have advanced from the dripped-wax seal of the past to modern, preinked stamps, but they still carry the same weight they have for millenniums. A document with a company’s chop affixed is a binding commitment on the company’s legal representative, typically the owner.
When I opened my business in China, it was difficult to find information on the chop system. It’s such a common practice that for natives it needs no explanation. That little stamp grants great power, though. Using a company chop, someone could actually change the stock structure of your Chinese company and allow control of it to be “signed over” to another group or individual.
My first Chinese general manager reminded me of that the day I asked for his resignation. Taking my company chop hostage, he told me: “The controller of the chop is the controller of the company — good luck without it.” (In the end, through a great deal of negotiation, I was able to get my chop back.)
There are different types of chops for different purposes. Here is a rundown on the standard set:
• A company chop is used to sign all legal documents. Possession of the stamp is considered sufficient identification of the person using it to establish the person’s authority to bind the company.
• A contract chop is used by sales representatives when executing a contract with a client. It grants less authority to its keeper than the company chop and is not a required chop.
• A finance chop is used for all transactions with banks, including writing checks or making electronic funds transfers.
• A fapiao chop, also known as the invoice chop, is stamped on all invoices issued by the company. Without the fapiao, customers cannot furnish the document to tax authorities as evidence of a business expense.
• A personal chop is the name chop of the company’s legal representative, and is sometimes used as a signature for letters. This is not a stamp that mimics a physical signature — it simply has the carved-out letters of the representative’s name.
A name chop.
As a part-time resident of China, I have entrusted my chops to two American managers who are permanently stationed at my firm’s Shanghai office. Every time the chops are used, they must log in a spreadsheet the date, the purpose, and the name of the person who did the stamping. Consider how many times you sign your name on an ordinary day in the United States and you will get an idea of how often the chops are used.
The chop system has many inherent security risks, but there is one feature that I really like: the “fan chop” used for multipage documents.
When a document is executed, the company chop is used on the final page. Then all of the document’s pages are fanned out so that just a small section of each is showing. The company chop is affixed across all the pages (see the photo below).
A fan chop.
Later, you can check to make sure all of the chop marks line up. It’s a way to be certain that a page was not substituted.
That’s a very important safeguard for me, as someone who does not read Chinese. I have my company’s documents translated into English paragraph by paragraph, with the Chinese appearing in the first paragraph and the English translation following it.
But here is a fun fact about how Chinese courts interpret contracts executed with dual translation: The Chinese supersedes the translated language, and the testimony of a foreigner is not considered credible.
When I set out to get my company’s chops, I ran into a bit of a Catch-22. You need to have a registered Chinese company to get a company chop, but you have to have a chop to sign the documents to register a company. As a consequence, obtaining a chop requires a Chinese lawyer who has a good relationship with a chop maker that can get you a chop before your registration is complete.
The system seems archaic and cumbersome at times, but speaking as someone with 21 characters in my signature, I’ve found a silver lining: Chops may save me from carpal tunnel in the end.
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狗仔卡
发表于 2014-1-9 12:50
提升卡
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楼主
发表于 2014-1-13 18:47
