Page 237 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book
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A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 230
A mirror of the Tang Dynasty
Money
qian
From the 7th century BC onwards, metal coins of various kinds were in use in China.
The round copper coin seems to have developed gradually from the ‘knife-money’ used
in East Shandong, where a small knife was once used as a token of payment; the round
coin is a remnant of the knife handle along with the square hole used for hanging it up.
Two or four inscribed characters were added, and the coin remained thus as the monetary
unit used by the broad masses, until the early 20th century. The coins were threaded on a
cord: a thousand of them formed the next unit in the monetary system. As motifs, coins
are found in many combinations. The word qian = money is phonetically identical with
the word qian = before: hence, a bat carrying money can be interpreted as
‘May happiness be before your eyes’ – and in this sentence, the word for ‘eye’ is the
same as the word for the hole in the coin (yan). Two magpies with a coin: this means
‘May happiness be before your eyes.’ A cord (lian) with nine coins symbolises
‘uninterrupted happiness’. The coin is also one of the ba-bao, the eight symbols of riches
( precious things).
