The Numismatic Chronicle 171 Offprint - Royal Numismatic Society

THE CONFUCIAN MESSAGE ON VIETNAMESE COINS 383
brother. On 3 July 626, Li Shimin 李世民, prince of Qin and son of the Tang dynasty
emperor Taizu (618–26), had his brother Li Jiancheng, who was prince and heir to
the throne, assassinated at the Xuanwu Gate in Chang’an. He then headed for the
palace where he made the emperor abdicate in his favour, and thereby earned himself
the temple name Taizong. But it was Taizong, the true founder of the Tang dynasty,
who had known how to rid the empire of the tyrant emperor Yangdi of the Sui
dynasty, a monstrous ruler second only to Qin Shihuangdi, according to traditional
Chinese historiography. The reference to the Zizhi tongjian is also intentional. Sima
Guang 司馬光 (1019–86), the author of this historic work, was a minister during
the Yingzong reign period (1064–7) of the Song dynasty. Bitterly opposed to the
reforms of Wang Anshi carried out during the reign of Shenzong (1068–85), he
was the leader of the conservative Confucian faction. After the death of Shenzong,
he returned to power under Zhezong (1085–1100) and during the fi rst year of the
Yuan You reign period (1086), he had all the reforms repealed. Sima Guang was
therefore the model Confucian statesman, and his Zizhi tongjian was the model,
moral historical compilation.
A similar expression ‘public and private affairs, both with advantage’, gong si
liang bian 公私兩便, is seen in a note by Yan Shigu 顏師古 (581–645) referring to
a quote from the pseudo-prophet Zhen Feng. 103
4. The eight-character moral maxims on coins of the Minh Mạng era
25. 君君,臣臣,父父,子子 Quân quân, thần thần, phụ phụ, tử tử
Ch. Jun jun, chen chen, fu fu, zi zi // May the Prince be like a prince, the subject like
a subject, the father like a father, the son like a son.
Inscription found on coins of the Minh Mạng, 104 Thiệu Trị105 and Tự Đức106 eras. On
the coins of the Minh Mạng era the inscription appears in the form 君ㄑ臣ㄑ父ㄑ子
ㄑ, whereㄑ indicates that the previous character is repeated.
This expression is a fundamental injunction of Confucianism. It is found in the
Analects (Lunyu): ‘Duke Jing of Qi questioned Confucius on the art of governing.
Confucius replied: The prince should behave like a prince, the subject like a subject,
the father like a father, the son like a son’ (Qi Jing gong wen zheng yu Kongzi.
Kongzi dui yue: jun jun, chen chen, fu fu, zi zi 齊景公問政於孔子。孔子對曰:君
君,臣臣,父父,子子). 107 Variant forms also appear in The Doctrine of the Mean
and The Great Learning (Daxue 大學), where it is used in reference to King Wen
of Zhou: ‘as man and prince, his aim was benevolence; as man and subject, his aim
103 Hanshu, XXIX, pp. 1697–8.
104 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 400; Schroeder, Annam. Etudes numismatiques, no. 128;
CMV, no. 1527; Barker, Historical cash coins of Viêt Nam, no. 153.
105 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 454; CMVS, no. 428.
106 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 481.
107 Lunyu, VI-11, p. 204. Lau (Confucius, p. 166) translates this as ‘Let the ruler be a ruler, the subject
a subject, the father a father, the son a son’. Legge (Four Books, p. 165) translates this as ‘The Duke
Jing of Qi asked Confucius about government. Confucius replied, ‘There is goverment, when the prince
is prince, and the minister is minister; when the father is father, and the son is son.’