The Numismatic Chronicle 171 Offprint - Royal Numismatic Society

THE CONFUCIAN MESSAGE ON VIETNAMESE COINS 389
sacrifi ce)’ (jiji qiangqiang, xie er niu yang 濟濟蹌蹌,絜爾牛羊). 145 The fi fth and
sixth characters (ji ji 濟濟) appear in the poem Yupu 棫樸, where the second verse
reads: ‘Solemn is our lord, all sides turn to him’ (jiji bi wang, zuo you qu zhi 濟濟
辟王,左右趣之). 146 In this poem, Zhou gong 周公, duke of Zhou, the youngest
son of King Wen, reminds his nephew Cheng (for whom he was acting as regent)
of the meritorious achievements of his grandfather: ‘King Wen was admirable, for
his perfect self-discipline’ (Mumu Wen wang, yu qi xi jing zhi 穆穆文王,於緝熙敬
止; 147 this passage also appears in The Great Learning 148 and in the Ziyi in the Book
of Rites (Liji). 149
34. 河流順軌,年穀豐登 Hà lưu thuận quĩ, niên cốc phong đăng
Ch. He liu shun gui, nian gu feng deng // When the rivers follow their course, the
annual harvest is abundant.
Inscription found on coins of the Minh Mạng, 150 Thiệu Trị 151 and Tự Đức 152 eras.
The fi rst part is a construction which derives from various phrases which appear
in the Chinese dynastic histories, indicating that a particular wandering river has
been dammed and brought under control, 153 for example, ‘the Huai River follows its
course’ (Huai liu shun gui 淮流順軌), and ‘the Yellow River (Huang He) follows its
course’ (Huanghe shun gui 黃河順軌).There is also the expression ‘May mountains
and earth be calm for a long time, may rivers follow their course’ (shan di jiu an, he
liu shun gui 山地久安,河流順軌), a wish for no earthquakes and no fl oods.
The second part is a slightly modifi ed version of the passage in the Long tao
(see also type 27); and there is the similar expression ‘the fi ve grains abundant
and magnifi cent’ (wu gu feng chang五穀豐昌) in the Huainanzi: ‘The fi ve grains
abundant and magnifi cent, the winds and the rain coming at the right time. Battles
victorious abroad, happiness is born at home’ (wu gu feng chang, feng yu shijie, zhan
sheng yu wai, fu sheng yu nei 五穀豐昌,風雨時節 戰勝於外,福生於內). 154
In the Yijing, the commentary of the hexagram dayou reads: ‘great abundance, a
year in which grain is in abundance’. There is a similar text in the Hou Hanshu,
which reports that the ninth year of the reign of Mingdi of the Eastern Han was a
145 Shijing, Xiaoya-VI-5, p. 276. Waley (Book of Songs, p. 209, no. 199) translates this as ‘In due
order, treading cautiously,/We purify your oxen and sheep [for sacrifi ce].’
146 Shijing, Daya-I-4, p. 330. Waley (Book of Songs, p. 266, no. 249) translates this as ‘Great is the
magnifi cence of the lord king;/On either hand are those that speed for him.’
147 Shijing, Daya-I-1, p. 321. Waley (Book of Songs, p. 250, no. 241) translates this as ‘August is Wên
the King;/Oh, to be reverenced in his glittering light!’
148 Daxue, III, p. 8.
149 Liji, XXXIII, p. 509.
150 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 427; Schroeder, Annam. Etudes numismatiques, no. 137; AS,
III, p. 10; CMV, no. 1546; Barker, no. Historical cash coins of Viêt Nam, 148.
151 Lacroix, Numismatique annamite, no. 453; AMM, no. V132.
152 CMV, no. 1800.
153 Gui 軌 means ‘conforming to the rule’, ‘following its normal course’.
154 Huainanzi, XV, p. 269. The expression appears in the chapter Jingcheng in the Wenzi in the inverted
form: feng yu shijie, wu gu feng chang (Wenzi-II, Chinese Text Project).