Marriage coin charm
Marriage coin charms are a category of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese numismatic charms that depict marriage, harmonious, and/or sexual imagery. These coin charms often imitate the design of Chinese cash coins, but can exist in many different shapes and sizes.
Names
Marriage coin charms are known by many names, including secret play coins, secret fun coins, hide the fire coins, Chinese marriage coins, Chinese love coins, Chinese spring money, Chinese erotic coins, and Chinese wedding coins.Types and themes
Marriage coin charms can display various symbols related to marriage. They may depict dates and peanuts symbolising the wish for reproduction, lotus seeds symbolising "continuous births", chestnuts symbolising male offspring, pomegranates symbolising fertility, brans symbolising sons that will be successful, "dragon and phoenix" candles, cypress leaves, qilins, bronze mirrors, shoes, saddles, and other things associated with traditional Chinese weddings. Since ancient times, three of the most important events that could occur in the life of a Chinese person in accordance to traditional Chinese culture were success in the imperial examination, which would result in a government position as well as the prestige and wealth that is associated with it, getting married, and having a large number male offspring to carry out the proper duties of filial piety and ancestor worship which were all proscribed to these sons by the Confucian system.Dragon and Fenghuang charms
A number of marriage numismatic charms depict the image of a dragon and a fenghuang on their reverse sides, usually the obverse sides of these amulets often contain a cash coin inscription, fantasy cash coin inscription, or a more auspicious inscription related to either marriage or having plenty.Zhengde Tongbao fantasy cash coin charms commonly feature the image of a dragon and a fenghuang on their reverses, when a Chinese dragon and fenghuang are shown together they often symbolise the union of a man and a woman meaning that these Zhengde Tongbao charms were used as Chinese marriage charms. Although Gary Ashkenazy claims that the dragon and fenghuang symbolises matrimony, it is argued by Edgar J. Mandel in his book Metal Charms and Amulets of China that the dragon and fenghuang actually represent the power of the imperial Chinese government where the dragon represents the Emperor and the fenghuang the Empress. A popular saying in imperial China was "If a household has a Zhengde coin, there will be material wealth and honour for ten thousand years".
Some dragon and fenghuang charms display the obverse inscription Zhouyuan Tongbao, which is an inscription used by Later Zhou. Although most of the numismatic charms that display this inscription are produced during a later period, charms with this inscription are very popular throughout Chinese history. In 956, Chai Rong, also known as Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, had ordered that the bronze Buddha statues in the Buddhist temples, as well as all the bronze items which were owned by the people of the Later Zhou Empire, had to be turned in to the imperial government. These bronze items were confiscated in order to manufacture Later Zhou cash coins. Because Buddhist statues were used to produce these cash coins it is believed by some people that Zhouyuan Tongbao cash coins were especially auspicious, which is why they later became a very popular design for later made Chinese numismatic charms.
Fenghua Xueyue ("Wind, Flowers, Snow, Moon")
The most common inscriptions that is found on Chinese love charms is Fenghua Xueyue which literally translate to mean "wind, flowers, snow and moon". The expression used in this inscription is most likely intentionally obscure which makes it to be open to various interpretations. The expression Fenghua Xueyue is generally used in China in order to describe a happy and lively place, or could be used to describe something that is either frivolous or trivial. One of the more plausible explanations for the phrase Fenghua Xueyue appearing on marriage numismatic charms is that each word in this context is used to represent a different Chinese goddess.The inscription may also be a reference to the 4 volume Chinese erotic novel entitled Su E Pian made during the late Ming dynasty period. The erotic novel describes the romantic adventures of a man named Wu Sansi, an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang dynasty and his aunt Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty, and a concubine who was described as being "beautiful" named Su E. The woman Su E is sometimes also referred to as the "Lady of the Moon". In the novel Wu Sansi and Su E are inspired to have sex in a variety of natural settings using 43 different sexual positions, which were all illustrated wood engravings that accompany the text of the novel.
Fish
A design of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese marriage amulets display a pair of fish on one side and the inscription Yu Shuang on the other side. In various Oriental cultures fish are associated with plenty and abundance. Fish are furthermore noted for their prolific ability to reproduce and that when they swim that this was in joy and are therefore associated with a happy and harmonious marriage. In Feng Shui, a pair of fish are associated with conjugal bliss and the joys of being in a matrimonial union.Sex education coins
Some marriage coin charms illustrate how the newlywed couple should perform on their wedding night to meet their responsibilities and obligations to produce children. In the case of these coins, "charm" in this context is a catchall term for coin-shaped items which were not official money. However, these numismatic objects were necessarily considered "magical" or "lucky", as some of these Chinese numismatic charms can be used as "mnemonic coins".Sex acts were traditionally only scarcely depicted in Chinese art but stone carvings from the Han dynasty showcasing sexual intercourse were found and bronze mirrors with various sexual themes were common during the Tang dynasty. It was also during the Tang dynasty that coins graphically depicting sex started being produced. Chinese love charms often have the inscription "wind, flowers, snow and moon" which is an obscure verse referring to a happy and frivolous setting, although every individual character might also be used to identify a Chinese goddess or the "Seven Fairy Maidens". Other Chinese wedding charms often have inscriptions like fēng huā yí rén, míng huáng yù yǐng, and lóng fèng chéng yàng.
These charms could also be used in brothels where a traveller could use the illustrations to make a request of a prostitute without knowing the local language.
A common design for Korean marriage charms displays scenes of a heterosexual couple engaging in different positions of sexual intercourse.
"Song of Unending Sorrow" charms
"Song of Unending Sorrow" charms, or "Song of Unending Regret" charms, are a common type of marriage coin charm, that might be Chinese, Japanese, Korean Taiwanese, or Vietnamese in origin, that depict part of the 9th century poem Chang hen ge written by Bai Juyi. "Song of Unending Sorrow" charms display four heterosexual couples having sex in various positions in the area surrounding the square centre hole of the coin. Surrounding the couples having sex are the Chinese characters representing the spring, wind, peaches, and plums, which is a reference to the first four characters of a line from the Chang hen ge poem which translates into English as "Gone were the breezy spring days when the peach and plum trees were in bloom" in reference to the death of Yang Guifei.Spring
Marriage coin charms are sometimes referred to as "spring money" or "spring coins" in refers to an ancient Chinese springtime ritual where young boys and young girls would be separated from each other by a stream and would then sing love songs to towards the other gender on the other side of the stream. This ancient tradition is still practiced by a number of ethnic minorities in China today.Vietnamese marriage charms
Vietnamese marriage amulets often display dragon and phoenix motifs, this is because the Vietnamese dragon is often used as a symbol for males, while the Phượng Hoàng is used to represent females. When the phoenix is shown together with the dragon this is often meant as a metaphor for the Emperor and Empress.Some marriage amulets have the obverse inscription Trường Mạng Phú Quý written in seal script, which translates into English to "Long life, riches, and honour". This inscription symbolises good fortune in marriage as well as protection. There are also some Vietnamese marriage amulets with the inscription Thọ Sơn Phúc Hải, which is a part of a Chinese congratulatory phrase "May your age be as Mount Tai and your happiness as the Eastern Sea".
Some Vietnamese marriage amulets contain the Daoist Âm and Dương symbol, this is because in Daoist Âm symbolises the feminine and Dương symbolises the masculine. Further symbols may include the lotus flower, known as "荷" or "蓮". In Mandarin Chinese the word for "lotus" has a homonymous sound with the word which means "to bind" as in a marriage contract, "to love", and "to be modest".