User:Donald Trung/Possible meanings of "Star", "Moon", "Cloud", and "Dragon" Symbols on Ancient Chinese Coins and Charms

Ancient Chinese texts refer to the Hanzi character for "star" (星) to not exclusively refer to the stars that are visible at night but to also have an additional meaning of "to spread" and "to disseminate" (布, bù), while other old Chinese sources claimed that the character for star was synonymous for the term for "to give out" and "to distribute" (散, sàn), based on these associations and the facts that coinage was seen as power that the dots that appeared on cash coins were thought to have the hidden meaning that cash coins should be akin to the star-filled night sky, and be widespread in circulation, numerous in quantity, and distributed throughout the world.

Another hypothesis on why star, moon, cloud and dragon symbols started appearing on Chinese cash coins is that they represent Yin and Yang and the Wu Xing, or more specifically the element of water (水), this hypothesis claims that the appearance of these symbols wasn't accidental but a manifestation of the fundamental belief of the ancient Chinese people of the time in Yin Yang energy and the elements of the Wu Xing. the Hanzi character for a "spring" (泉), which in this context refers to the underground source of water also meant "coin" in ancient China. In Chinese mythology the moon was an envoy or messenger from the heavens and water was cold air of Yin energy that was being accumulated and had their origins on the moon. As the moon was the spirit in charge of water in Chinese mythology and was in fact its essence the alleged meaning of crescent symbols representing "the moon" on cash coins could indicate that cash coins have to circulate just like water which flows, gushes, and rises. The symbolism of "clouds" or "auspicious clouds" in this context may then refer to the fact that clouds cause rain, in the Book of Changes the second trigram is mentioned to be representative of the element water which appear in the heavens as clouds, this would also imply that like flowing water cash coins should circulate freely. The appearance of wiggly-lines that represent Chinese dragons happened around this time as well and may have also been based on the Wu Xing element of water as dragons were thought to be water animals that were the bringers of both the winds and the rain, this would also confirm that dragons represented the nation that the circulation of cash coins should be free akin to how water flows. In later Chinese charms, amulets, and talismans the dragon became a symbol of the Chinese emperor as well as the central government of China and its power.