Chinese documents have been marked with chops since antiquity as a sign of authenticity, and even in the modern world with computers and credit cards changing the way we write and perform consumer transactions, the chop still has its old role of confirming a signature as creditworthy.
自古以來，文件有印為憑，形同本人昭信，即或今日電腦已改變了文書形式，信用卡進入消費市場，簽名就代表信用，印信在中國社會仍然餘威無窮。