The Numismatic Chronicle 171 Offprint - Royal Numismatic Society

386
FRANÇOIS THIERRY
The fi rst part of the inscription is a variant of the famous expression ‘May the
state be rich and the people well’ (guo fu min kang 國富民康), which appears in
the Seven Principles (Qi qi 七啟) by Cao Zhi. 119 In this text, Cao Zhi presents a
Confucian who tries to convince a Taoist to abandon his retirement in order to put
his high ideals into practice and thereby make his country powerful. The fi rst four
characters on this coin are taken from a passage in Chapter 14 of Shanchuanshen
山川神, in the Meng Liang lu 夢梁錄 (1214) by Wu Zimu 吳自牧 of the Southern
Song dynasty: ‘First ask Heaven for the country to be calm, then keep the people at
peace’ (shang qi guo tai, xia bao min an 上祈國泰,下保民安). 120 The second part
is an extremely common phrase, taken from the Treatise on Rites and Ceremonies
(Liyizhi 禮儀志) in the History of the Tang (Tangshu 唐書). 121 It is based on a passage
in The Six Strategies (Liu Tao 六韜), a text from the Warring States period (fourth
to third centuries BC) which became a classic of military strategy during the Three
Kingdoms and during the Tang dynasty. When King Wu 武 of Zhou 周 questioned
Prime Minister Jiang Taigong 姜太公 on military strategy and tactics, he replied:
‘It is because the wind and rain arrived at a favourable moment that the fi ve grains
matured in abundance and that the territory of the State is at peace’ (shi gu feng yu
shijie, wu gu feng shu, sheji anning 是故風雨時節,五穀豐熟,社稷安寧). 122 The
same phrase, albeit reversed, is also seen in the poem Ode on Lychees (Lizhi tan 荔
枝嘆) by Su Shi 蘇軾 (a.k.a. Su Dongpo, 1037–1101): ‘with rain benefi cial and wind
gentle all the grains matured, the people know not famine nor cold which is a happy
omen for the ruler’ (Yu shun feng diao bai gu deng, min bu ji han wei shang rui 雨順
風調百穀登,民不饑寒為上瑞).
28. 華封三祝,天保九如 Hoa phong tam chúc, Thiên bảo cửu như
Ch. Hua feng san zu, tian bao jiu ru // The three desires of Hua, the Nine Comparisons
in [the poem] Tianbao.
Inscription found on coins of the Minh Mạng123 era. This type was dropped from the
time of Thiệu Trị because it contained the taboo character Hoa 華 which was present
in the personal name of the emperor’s mother (see above).
The fi rst part of the inscription comes from Zhuangzi: ‘When Yao was inspecting the
land of Hua, the offi cial appointed to this fi efdom said, ‘Longevity, wealth and many
sons, these are what the people desire.’ (Yao guan hu Hua. Hua feng ren yue: […]
shou fu duo nanzi, ren zhi suo yu ye 堯觀乎華。華封人曰:[…] 壽富多男子,
also amulets which have just one of four-character phrases (ZGHQ, nos 365, 515), or one of them in
association with another (ZGHQ, nos 675, 876; Lockhart, Glover collection, no. 1843).
119 The poet Cao Zhi 曹植 (192–232) was the son of the warlord Cao Cao who was responsible for the
foundation of the Wei kingdom, of the Three Kingdoms.
120 Ciyuan, p. 454.
121 Tangshu, XXI, p. 822.
122 Long tao-IV, Chinese Text Project. See also type 34.
123 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 418; Schroeder, no. 131; CMV, no. 1534; Barker, Historical
cash coins of Viêt Nam, no. 141.