The Numismatic Chronicle 171 Offprint - Royal Numismatic Society

THE CONFUCIAN MESSAGE ON VIETNAMESE COINS 377
reversed, also appears in the afterword of the Shiji: ‘the people are well provided for,
families have suffi cient’ (ren ji jia zu 人給家足). 64
10. 川至山增 Xuyên chí sơn tăng
Ch. Chuan zhi shan zeng // Rivers fl ow, mountains rise.
Inscription found on coins of the Minh Mạng, 65 Thiệu Trị 66 and Tự Đức 67 eras.
These four characters are from the poem Tianbao 天保 in the Shijing. 68 This poem
was used in various abbreviated forms for numerous inscriptions on coins in this
series (see also type 37).
2. The four-character moral maxims on coins of the Thiệu Trị era
11. 天下大同 Thiên hạ đại đồng
Ch. Tian xia da tong // Universal harmony throughout the empire.
Inscription found on coins of the Thiệu Trị69 era. The reverse illustrated by Schroeder
(no. 161, Fig. 1) and attributed to Minh Mạng is not genuine.
‘Universal harmony’ (Ch. Da tong) results from good government in which virtue
overwhelms any bad elements of society. The chapter Li yun in the Liji (Book of
Rites) says: ‘Thus, plots will be blocked and cannot be developed. Robbers, brigands
and rebels will not be able to do anything. For this reason the external gates will not
shut. This is what is meant by universal harmony’ (shi gu mou bi er bu xing, dao qie
luan zei er bu zuo, gu wai hu er bu bi, shi wei da tong 是故謀閉而不興,盜竊亂賊
而不作,故外戶而不閉,是謂大同). 70
12. 萬世永賴 Vạn thế vĩnh lại
Ch. Wan shi yong lai // Ten thousand generations will reap the results.
Inscription found on coins of the Thiệu Trị 71 and Tự Đức 72 eras. The reverse illustrated
by Schroeder (no. 162, Fig. 2) and attributed to the Minh Mạng era is a coin of the
Thiệu Trị era.
(Yushi dafu 御史大夫). He insisted on the necessity to reduce the unnecessary expenses of the court,
the importance that one should give to agriculture and the indispensable promotion of the study of
Confucian works. Furthermore, he proposed a suppression of coins and a return to barter as a means of
exchange (Hanshu, LXXII, pp. 3075–6).
64 Shiji, CXXX, p. 3291.
65 Schroeder, Annam. Etudes numismatiques, no. 160; AS, III, p. 15; CMV, no. 1526; Barker, Historical
cash coins of Viêt Nam, no. 167.
66 Barker, Historical cash coins of Viêt Nam, no. 182.
67 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 463.
68 Shijing, Xiaoya-I-6, p. 183.
69 Barker, Historical cash coins of Viêt Nam, no. 183.
70 Liji, IX, p. 368.
71 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 450; CMVS, no. 424; Barker, Historical cash coins of Viêt
Nam, no. 185.
72 CMV, no. 1785.