User:Donald Trung/Cash coins in art

This page serves as "the editing history" of the English Wikipedia article "Cash coins in art" and is preserved for attribution.
 * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cash_coins_in_art&oldid=948831789 ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 08:05, 3 April 2020 (UTC).

Original draft

 * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cash_coins_in_art&oldid=948831789 ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 08:05, 3 April 2020 (UTC).

Cash coins are a type of historical Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Ryukyuan, and Vietnamese coin design that was the main basic design for the Chinese cash, Japanese mon, Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese văn currencies. The cash coin became the main standard currency of China in 221 BC with the Ban Liang (半兩) and would produced until 1912 AD there with the Minguo Tongbao (民國通寶), the last series of cash coins produced in the world were the French Indochinese Bảo Đại Thông Bảo (保大通寶) during the 1940s. Cash coins are round coins with a square centre hole. It is commonly believed that the early round coins of the Warring States period resembled the ancient jade circles (璧環) which symbolised the supposed round shape of the sky, while the centre hole in this analogy is said to represent the planet earth (天圓地方). The body of these early round coins was called their "flesh" (肉) and the central hole was known as "the good" (好).

While cash coins are no longer produced as official currency today, they remain a common motif in the countries where they once circulated and among the diaspora of those communities. Most commonly cash coins are associated with "good luck" and "wealth" today and are commonly known as "Chinese lucky coins" because of their usage in charms and feng shui. Cash coins also appear in fortune telling and traditional Chinese medicine. Furthermore, cash coins are often found in the logos and emblems of financial institutions in East Asia and Vietnam because of their association with "wealth" and their historical value.

Amulets
Cash coin designs are commonly used as a basic design for various amulets, talismans, and charms throughout the far east, these coin-like amulets often include the general design of cash coins but with different inscriptions. Some amulets and charms include may also include images of cash coins as they are associated with "wealth". Sometimes images of sycees, another form of ancient Chinese coinage, are used as a symbol in amulets, talismans, and charms for "wealth".

In amulets cash coins can be a symbol not just of "wealth and prosperity", but also the word "before" and of completeness. The latter is because the Mandarin Chinese word for "coin" (錢, qián) sounds like "before" (前, qián). An archaic Mandarin Chinese term for coins (泉, quán) sounds like the word for "complete" (全, quán).

In the island of Bali, Indonesia Pis Bolong (Chinese cash coins) are used as coin-charms and while both authentic and fake Chinese cash coins are used in various rituals and ceremonies by the Balinese Hindu community and used to make souvenir items for tourists, there exist many local versions of the Pis Bolong which are in fact amulets based on these cash coins. It is common for traditional Balinese families to have 200 pieces of Pis Bolong in their household to the point that cash coins could be found in almost every corner of every traditional household on the island.

Liu Song dynasty tomb
On August 13, 2013 a video broadcast by Hubei TV (HBTV 湖北网台) had revealed the discovery of an ancient tomb dating back to the Liu Song dynasty (Northern and Southern dynasties period) somewhere in June 2013, the tomb was unearthed at a construction site in the city of Xiangyang, Hubei. At this tomb several of its brick display images of Chinese cash coins. Other bricks inside of this tomb display the Chinese character "Wang" (王, "King"). According to Liang Chao (梁超), an archaeologist with the Xiangyang Archaeology Institute (襄阳市考古研究所) the bricks with the Chinese character "王" was probably the "logo" or "emblem" of the craftsman who constructed the bricks that were used to make the tomb, and note that perhaps Wang might have been a famous brand of tomb bricks during the Liu Song dynasty period. The owner of the tomb was identified by two bricks which contain the inscription "Nanyang Zong" (南陽宗, nán yáng zōng), which note that the owner was named "Zong" (宗) and originated from the city of Nanyang, Henan. The tomb was identified to have been constructed in the year 461 by an inscription on a brick which reads "Song Da Ming Wu Nian Zao" (宋大明五年造, "Built in the 5th year of the Da Ming reign of the State of Song").

Not a signle artifact was discovered inside of the Liu Sog dynasty era tomb which indicates that tomb robbers had looted it sometime in the distant past before its rediscovery.

Luo City Wall
During the Tang dynasty and later the Kingdom of Min periods a city wall in present-day Fuzhou, Fujian was constructed under Wang Shenzhi. The wall is made from bricks that display the design of an ancient Chinese cash coin. Construction of the wall began in the year 901 during the Tang dynasty and continued during the Kingdom of Min.

In the year 2012, about 1,100 years after its construction this wall was unearthed in Fuzhou. Historical records specifically mention the unusual cash coin design on the bricks used to build the "Luo city wall" (羅城, luó chéng) which is how archaeologists managed to identify the wall. Further confirmation that the archaeological find is indeed the famous "Luo City wall" constructed by the Kingdom of Min was later obtained when other bricks at the site were discovered to have the Chinese characters "威武軍" (wēi wǔ jūn), which translates into English as the "Powerful Army", incorporated into their design. Wei Wu Jun was the name of the army Wang Shenzhi commanded. In 2012 the unearthed portions of the "Luo City wall" measures about 74 meters in length and around 8 meters in width.

According to historical records, the "Luo City wall" was severely damaged in battle during the Song dynasty period. During the People's Republic of China period the site where the "Luo City wall" once stood was used as a rubbish dump and would later become the location of a transport station.

Fangyuan Mansion
The famous Taiwanese architect Chu-Yuan Lee had designed the Fangyuan Building (方圓大廈, fāng yuán dà shà) in the city of Shenyang, Liaoning, which was completed in the year 2001. The 25-storey high-rise building is shaped like a stack of ancient Chinese cash coins. The Fangyuan Mansion has been described as one of the world's ugliest buildings.

Bank logos


Several logos of Chinese banks incorporate cash coins into their designs, this is because cash coins have become a cultural icon in China, and the cash coin motif has been incorporated in the logo design of a number of major banks. Some banks also incorporate other forms of ancient Chinese coinage into the designs of their emblems, for example the logo of the People's Bank of China is based on spade money from the Warring States Period.


 * The logo of the Bank of China includes in its design the archetypal cash coin motif. It changes the design by instead of incorporating a simple square centre hole, it uses a stylised version of the Chinese character "中" (Zhōng, meaning "middle" or "centre") as an abbreviation for "中國" (Zhōngguó, "central state").


 * The logo of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China uses the standard cash coin motif, but instead of having a square centre hole, it uses a stylised version of the Chinese character "工", which translates into English as "commercial". The stylised centre can also be interpreted as being a capital version of the Latin letter "I", representing the English word "industrial". The "centre hole" of the cash coin motif of the logo therefore represents the essence of the bank's name both in English and in Mandarin, the "Industrial and Commercial Bank of China".


 * The logo of the China Construction Bank incorporates two Chinese cash coins, which are placed side-by-side with a slight overlap, this overlap gives the image a three-dimensional effect. Furthermore, small piece of the circular design of the cash coins has been removed so that they resemble two of the Latin letter "C". The two "C's" in this design stand for the English name of the bank, "China Construction".


 * The logo of the Huaxia Bank incporates the cash coin design by using white space rather than colouring it in. The white space surrounds a gray square and is enclosed by an auspicious red border based on a "jade dragon" from the Hongshan Culture.

The logos of a number of Vietnamese banks incorporate cash coin designs, these include the logos of the VietinBank, National Citizen Bank (Ngân Hàng Quốc Dân), Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank, and SeABank among others.

Banknotes
Imperial Chinese banknotes that were denominated in strings of cash coins often featured designs depicting physical strings of cash coins to showcase their nominal value, usually the higher their denomination was the more cash coins were displayed on the paper note.

A Tang dynasty era Kaiyuan Tongbao (開元通寳) cash coin appears on the reverse side of a 2010 Hong Kong banknote issued by the Standard Chartered Bank with a face value of $1,000.

Ceramics
Chinese cash coins were used decoratively and symbolically at least as early as the Han dynasty period, and cash coin designs have been incised into the body of Chinese ceramics as early the Song dynasty period, such as with the Yaozhou meiping vase. But the usage of cash coin designs became more popular during the Ming dynasty period. During the 17th century cash coin-like "base-marks", or dikuan (底款), began to appear using the era names and reign titles of the contemporary monarch. Some of these base-marks are presented in a similar manner as cash coins and may contain inscriptions like Changing Fugui (長命富貴, "Changming Fugui"), while others are direct imitations of cash coins and may even include cash coin inscriptions like Hongwu Tongbao (洪武通寶).

Commemorative coins
In 2008 France issued two commemorative coins that featured an image of a Kan'ei Tsūhō (寛永通寳) cash coin on its reverse, one was a silver coin with a nominal value of €1.50 and the other was a gold coin with a nominal value of €10.

Oda Nobunaga


On the 5th month of the year Eiroku 3 (永禄三, or 1560 in the Gregorian calendar), daimyō Oda Nobunaga was preparing for the Battle of Okehazama and while he had an army of forty thousand men, he could only gather around two and a half thousand soldiers for this decisive battle, Oda Nobunaga then went to pray for a victorious military campaign at the nearby Atsuta-jingū, he asked the Gods to show him a sign that his prayers would be answered and while looking at a handful of Eiraku Tsūhō (永樂通寶) cash coins decided to throw them in the air, when they fell back on the ground they all landed with heads up, he took this as a sign that the Gods would bless him and informed his men that they shall be victorious as they Gods favoured them. After winning the battle he used the Eiraku Tsūhō as a motif for his nobori (a type of flag or banner) and then he had these Eiraku Tsūhō coins inlayed on the tsuba of the sword which he carried during the battle. After Oda Nobunaga's forces were victorious his retainer Hayashi Hidesada said that the Gods must've really spoken through these coins to which Nobunaga replied by saying the Zen Buddhist proverb "I only know that I'm okay with what I got" (吾唯知足, ware tada taru o shiru) and presented to him an Eiraku Tsūhō coin of which both the obverse and reverse sides were heads. Family crests with this proverb written around a square hole resembling a cash coin are not uncommon among military families. Another possibility as to why Oda Nobunaga used Eiraku Tsūhō cash coins as a motif on his nobori was because Eiraku Tsūhō were originally all imported from Ming China during the Muromachi period and spread throughout Japan as the de facto currency, speculation has it that Nobunaga tried to emulate this by having Eiraku Tsūhō as his emblem meaning that his power too shall spread throughout Japan.

The tsuba Oda Nobunaga was carrying during his military campaigns which had the Eiraku Tsūhō inlayed into it was nicknamed the "invincibility tsuba" (まけずの鍔) as he had won all battles he had fought while carrying that tsuba. The Eiraku Tsūhō are divided on this tsuba with 6 being on the omote and 7 of them are displayed on the ura side. This tsuba was declared to be a kokuhō (national treasure) in 1920.

Medals and medallions

 * In 1999 artist Mariam Fountain created the Millennium Medal, a "good luck symbol" for the new millennium, its circular shape symbolises the heavens and the medal features a person looking through the square centre hole symbolising the planet earth, the person embraces both the new day and the wide world.  People wore this medal on January 1st, 2000 as "a prize" for just "being there" during the turn of the millennium. A card initially accompanying the medals for those who purchased it had the statement: "to be worn and polished from hand to hand for the next 1000 years". It notes that the details of the Millennium Medal will eventually be rubbed away, which will accentuate the quintessential symbol of the planet earth and the heavens. The design of the Millennium Medal was later used for the Parisian Franco-British Lawyers Society medal in 2002.

Tlingit body armour
The Tlingits used a body armour made from Chinese cash coins, these coins were introduced by Russian traders from Qing China between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who traded them for animal skins which were in turn traded with the Chinese for tea, silk, and porcelain by these European traders. The Tlingits believed that these cash coins would protect them from knife attacks and guns used by other indigenous American tribes and Russians. Some Tlingit body armours are completely covered in Qing dynasty era cash coins while others have them sewn in chevron patterns. One Russian account from a battle with the Tlingits in 1792 states "bullets were useless against the Tlingit armour", however this would've more likely be attributed to the inaccuracy of contemporary Russian smoothbore muskets than the body armour and the Chinese coins might've played a more important role in psychological warfare than have any practical application on the battlefield. Other than on their armour the Tlingits also used Chinese cash coins on masks and ceremonial robes such as the Gitxsan dancing cape as these coins were used as a symbol of wealth representing a powerful far away country. The cash coins used by the Tlingit are all from the Qing dynasty are bear inscriptions of the Shunzhi, Kangxi, and Yongzheng Emperors.

Sand-drawings
There is a "coin-shaped sand-drawing" or Zenigata suna-e (銭形砂絵) based on the Japanese Kan'ei Tsūhō (寛永通寳) cash coins whose origins date back to 1633 in the Kotohiki Park which lies in Kan'onji, Kagawa Prefecture.

Statues and sculptures
In 2013 a sculpture of a Kaiyuan Tongbao (開元通寳) with a diameter of 24 meters (or 78.7 feet) and a thickness of 3.8 meters (or 12.5 feet) was constructed to be displayed at the Baoshan National Mining Park (宝山国家矿山工园) theme park in the Guiyang Prefecture of Chenzhou, Hunan. The sculpture is notably of a Huichang Kaiyuan Tongbao with the Gui (桂) mint mark.

There is a 10 meter tall Kaiyuan Tongbao-shaped door which stands on a bridge in the Jiangxia District of Wuhan, Hubei.

Store signs
Cash coin designs are sometimes incorporated in Chinese store signs, known as zhāo pái (招牌). Store signs started appearing in China during the Song dynasty period, and by the Ming and Manchu Qing dynasties Chinese shops had developed several types of store signs to help establish their identity. The earliest known Chinese store signs only consisted of a simple piece of cloth with some Traditional Chinese characters on it which was hung at front of the shop's door. These early Chinese store signs would often, only have things like "tea house", "restaurant", or "drugstore" written on them, while some store signs would have the name of the shop or shop owner on it. Other types of imperial Chinese store displayed a sample of the product being sold by the shop to help identify it. For example, a shoe store might hang a shoe from a pole to show that they sell shoes or a tobacco store may display a large wooden model of a tobacco leaf to indicate that they sold tobacco products.

Another type of Chinese store sign design from this period that became popular was those that included symbols of "good luck" and "prosperity", rather than displaying what line of the business the shop was involved in. These store signs would often be based on ancient Chinese cash coins or display an image of Caishen (the Chinese God of Wealth). While store signs shaped like cash coins were common in the past, in modern Chinese metropolises they have become increasingly rare. Cash coin store signs may still be found in Chinese villages and often don't display any symbols associated with the business, often simply displaying cash coin inscriptions and in some cases Chinese numismatic charm inscriptions like Shouxi Facai (壽喜發財, shòu xǐ fā cái) which translates into English as "longevity, happiness, and make a fortune".

Plantation tokens in the Dutch East Indies
The Sennah Rubber Co. Ltd. on the island of Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies issued machine-struck token coins that were shaped like cash coins. These tokens were made of brass and were denominated in 5 liters of rice (Dutch: 5 liter rijst). They were 30 millimeters in diameter and had a square central hole that was 8.4 millimeters in diameter.

Yanshoutang pharmacy tokens
In the year 1933 the Yanshoutang (延壽堂) pharmacy in the city of Tianjin issued token coins that were shaped like cash coins. These pharmacy tokens were made from silver and were Ø 32 millimeters. The large obverse inscription around the square centre hole reads Yan Nian Yi Shou (延年益壽) which translates into English as "To live an extended life". The top of the obverse side of the token has the text Yanshoutang Yaopu (延壽堂藥鋪) which means "Yanshoutang pharmacy" written from right to left inside of the rim of the coin. The bottom of the reverse side reads Tianjin Fajie Majialou Nan (天津法界馬家樓南) which translates into English to "South of the Ma (馬) family building, French concession of Tianjin". The large reverse inscription of these silver pharmacy tokens around the square centre hole read Yi Yuan Qian Zeng (一元錢贈), which translates into English as "Gift of 1 yuan". At the top part of the rim it reads Yishi Bo Qi Sun Shengchang Faming (醫士伯岐孫盛昌發明) written from right to left which translates into English as "Doctor Bo Qi and Sun Shengchang inventors", while the inscription at the bottom of the rim reads Kaishi Jinian (開始紀念), which translates as "Commemorating the opening". On the right and left side of the rim are Chinese characters Gui-You (癸酉) which indicates that it was produced in 1933.

Tong-in Market Yeopjeon tokens
At the Tong-in Market (통인시장), a small market that was established in 1941 during the Japanese occupation period for Seoul's Japanese residents outside of the Gyeongbok Palace, people can purchase token coins shaped like yeopjeon ("leaf coins", the Korean tern for cash coins) at shops which are members of the "Dosirak Café" (도시락) project to spend at around 70 food stores and restaurants. The shops where these yeopjeon tokens can be spend have a sign stating "通 도시락 cafe" and these tokens can be bought in strings of 10 yeopjeon. A single one of these yeopjeon tokens cost ₩500 in 2014.

Mikazuki-mura Edo coins
Cash coin tokens are used at the Mikazuki-mura (三日月村) theme park located in the Gunma Prefecture, Kantō region. The theme park is based on a rural village during the Bakumatsu (the late Edo period) and includes a number of attractions such as a house filled with Ninja tricks. On the premises of the Mikazuki-mura theme park visitors have to use "Edo coins" to make purchases as well as to pay for the attractions. These tokens are purchased at a price of 100 yen (円) for 1 mon (文). The tokens are identical to the historical Edo period Kan'ei Tsūhō (寛永通寳) and Tenpō Tsūhō (天保通寳) cash coins, but contain the text "三日月村" (Mikazuki-mura) written very small on their reverse sides.

Video games
The Tenpō Tsūhō (天保通寳) is a collectable item in the 2013 American video game Tomb Raider, which can be obtained inside the Cliffside Bunker on Yamatai.

Zodiacs
The Chinese zodiac "rat" (鼠) is often depicted holding a cash coin. This is because in Chinese folklore, there is a story that once upon a time, five beautiful fairies descended to the world of the mortals and had disguised as rats. These fairies in rat form then gathered sycees and cash coins, and later gave all these treasures to the people. This is why the rats from the Year of the Rat (鼠年) are sometimes referred to as "money-gathering rats".

Standard reference templates

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Note about the article
This article can basically be used as the "miscellaneous" for anything related to cash coins outside of Chinese numismatic charms and other forms of Oriental amulets, to be "dumped" here, as the world of cash coins is quite vast and not all topics can be covered justly in existing articles.

More sources to use

 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 09:25, 2 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 09:25, 2 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 09:25, 2 April 2020 (UTC).


 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 08:39, 2 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 08:39, 2 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 08:39, 2 April 2020 (UTC).


 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 13:08, 1 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 13:08, 1 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 13:08, 1 April 2020 (UTC).


 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 16:51, 2 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 19:42, 1 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 16:51, 2 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 19:42, 1 April 2020 (UTC).
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 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 21:17, 1 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 21:17, 1 April 2020 (UTC).

Even more sources to use

 * http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202003/03/WS5e5e6352a31012821727c06b.html
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 21:18, 2 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 21:18, 2 April 2020 (UTC).


 * https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3353048/The-world-s-strangest-looking-skyscrapers-revealed.html
 * Quote: "Fenyuang Mansion, a 25-storey high-rise inspired by the ancient Chinese copper coin, was called one of the world's ugliest buildings."
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 08:57, 2 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 08:57, 2 April 2020 (UTC).


 * https://www.baliaround.com/chinese-coins-in-balinese-life/
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 21:02, 2 April 2020 (UTC).
 * ✅. --Donald Trung (talk) 21:02, 2 April 2020 (UTC).

Accidentally counted it



 * https://chinesemoneymatters.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/75-chinese-coins-and-reign-base-marks-on-ceramics/amp/?__twitter_impression=true


 * https://chinesemoneymatters.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/75-chinese-coins-and-reign-base-marks-on-ceramics/#respond

Avatar: The Last Airbender
Cash coin designs were used in this American cartoon, unfortunately I can't find any non-user generated sources that cover this design.

Redirect

 * #REDIRECT Cash coins in art


 * 1) Cash coin in art.
 * 2) Chinese coins in art.
 * 3) Chinese coin in art.
 * 4) Chinese lucky coins in art.
 * 5) Chinese lucky coin in art.
 * 6) Chinese good luck coins in art.
 * 7) Chinese good luck coin in art.
 * 8) Square holed coins in art.
 * 9) Square holed coin in art.
 * 10) Cash Coins in art.