Confucian coin charm

During the 19th century these Confucian messages were also featured on a number of 1 mạch Vietnamese cash coins during the Nguyễn dynasty.

Confucian inscriptions include fù cí zǐ xiào (父慈子孝, "the father is kind and the son is filial") read clockwise, yí chū fèi fǔ (義出肺腑, "righteousness comes from the bottom of one's heart"), zhōng jūn xiào qīn (忠君孝親, "be loyal to the sovereign and honor one's parents"), huā è shuāng huī (花萼雙輝, "petals and sepals both shine"), and jìng xiōng ài dì (敬兄愛第, "revere older brothers and love younger brothers").

[13] During the Song dynasty period a bird-worm seal script coin charm was produced with the inscription Guihe Qishou (traditional Chinese: 龜鶴齊壽; simplified Chinese: 龟鹤齐寿; pinyin: Guī hè qí shòu), which translates to "Live as long as the tortoise and the crane".

[13] The inscription of this coin charm is read top-bottom-right-left and is 6.4 centimeters in diameter, has a thickness of 4 millimeters, and a weight of 71.1 grams.

[9] Open-work charms depicting pavilions and temples first started appearing during the Song dynasty, and the majority of these are thought to have been manufactured in the city of Dali.

[15][16] Under the Nguyễn dynasty era Emperor Minh Mạng large (often 48 millimeters in diameter) presentation coins with the inscription Minh Mạng Thông Bảo (明命通寶) were made that featured inscriptions from the Huainanzi on their reverse,[1] it is believed that this work was chosen because it states that a monarch or ruler should embrace both Confucianism and Taoism and attain sagehood.

[19] The reverse of this coin charm shows sycees and a large number of the Chinese character "tian" (田), which means "field" as in farm land.

[19] Another example of a Confucian tadpole script coin charm has the obverse inscription qīng bái chuán jiā (清白傳家, "Pureness handed down in the family"), which is a reference to Yang Zhen (样震), a Han dynasty government official and the prefecture governour of Jingzhou who was known for both his erudition and his impeccable moral character.

[20][21] The inscription on this coin is a reference to a story where Yang Zhen while on the way to Jingzhou, had passed through Changyi prefecture (昌邑县).

[21] In this story Yang Zhen felt that an untarnished reputation would be the greatest legacy that he could leave to his descendants and this charm reminds its owner of this sense of Confucian moral integrity.