The Numismatic Chronicle 171 Offprint - Royal Numismatic Society

378
FRANÇOIS THIERRY
This expression is taken from The Counsels of Yu the Great: ‘When Earth is at peace,
and Heaven is complete, and the Six Treasuries and the Three Occupations are well
managed, ten thousand generations will reap the results’ (Di ping Tian cheng, liu fu
san shi yun zhi, wan shi yong lai 地平天成,六府三事允治,萬世永賴). 73 This
inscription is frequently seen on the gold and silver coinage of the Nguyễn dynasty
from the Thiệu Trị era (1841–7) to the Thành Thái era (1889–1907). See also type
30.
13. 萬物資生 Vạn vật tư sanh
Ch. Wan shi zi sheng // All living things are born from it.
Inscription found on coins of the Thiệu Trị 74 and Tự Đức 75 eras. The reverse illustrated
by Schroeder, no. 163, and attributed to the Minh Mạng era is not genuine.
These four characters are taken from the commentary for the hexagram kun 坤 in the
Book of Changes (Yijing): ‘So effective is the principle of kun that all living things
are born from it, it is gentle obedience to heaven’, (Zhi zai kun yuan, wan wu zi
sheng, nai shun cheng tian 至哉坤元,萬物資生,乃順承天). 76
14. 解慍阜財 Giải uấn phụ tài
Ch. Jie yun fu cai // Resolve resentment, augment wealth.
Inscription found on coins of the Thiệu Trị77 era. The reverse illustrated by Schroeder,
no. 164, and attributed to the Minh Mạng era is a coin of the Thiệu Trị era.
These four characters are a contraction of the poem Wind from the South (Nanfeng
南風) attributed to the mythical emperor Yushun 虞舜: ‘The softness of the wind
from the South can resolve resentment among my people, the timeliness of the wind
from the South can augment the wealth of the people’ (Nan feng zhi xun xi, keyi jie
wu min zhi yun xi, Nan feng zhi shi xi, keyi fu min zhi cai xi 南風之薰兮,可以解吾
民之慍兮,南風之時兮,可以阜民之財兮). This poem is quoted in Chapter 35 of
Bianyuejie 辯樂解, in Kongzi jiayu 孔子家語. 78
15. 悠久無疆 Du cửu vô cương
Ch. You jiu wu jiang // Far-reaching, without limit.
73 Shujing, I-3, p. 35.
74 CMVS, no. 423.
75 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 470.
76 Yijing, II, p. 76.
77 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 457; AS, III, p. 18; CMV, no. 1607; Barker, Historical cash
coins of Viêt Nam, no. 186.
78 This work complements the Analects (Lunyu) of Confucius, and is a collection of anecdotes and
aphorisms about the Master and his main disciples, Zilu, Zixia and Yan Hui. The text is known to have
been compiled during the Eastern Han by Wang Su 王肅 (195–256), see Ciyuan, p. 2217; and Loewe,
pp. 258–69. The Chinese Text Project (Baijia zhuzi 百家諸子, http://ctext.org) website gives a digital
version of most of the great philosophical and historical texts of ancient China.