For more than a millennium following the life and times of Bian He jade remained the symbol of supreme power in China. It was so regarded by the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty; Emperor Gaozu. named Liu Bang,of the Han Dynasty; Emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty, and Emperor Taizong, named Li Shimin, of the Tang Dynasty.
Upon unifying China, the first Qin Emperor ordered craftsmen to fashion the He Jade into a seal engraved with eight characters declaring its owner as possessor of "The Mandate of Heaven, longevity and eternal prosperity," in other words, absolute imperial power. The conviction that the seal represented the mandate of heaven, and that its possessor was the Mandatory Son of Heaven, was upheld by succeeding dynasties.
