The Language and Iconography of Chinese Charms

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. Chinese Charms and the Iconographic Language of Good Luck and Heavenly Protection

   • Alex Chengyu Fang, François Thierry

   Pages 1-30

3. Charms Decorated with Liu bo Patterns from the Han Dynasty

   • Jie Song

   Pages 31-48

4. Not an Ordinary Hoard: The Coins in the Hejiacun Treasure

   • Dong-fang Qi

   Pages 49-68

5. The Language of Protective Power: Star Worship and the Four Spirits Charms

   • Alex Chengyu Fang

   Pages 69-82

6. Coin Charms Featuring Gods and Spirits during the Song and the Jin Dynasties

   • Ji-peng Geng

   Pages 83-104

7. Horse Coins: Pieces for Da ma, the Chinese Board Game ‘Driving the Horses ’

   • Joe Cribb

   Pages 105-124

8. The Liao Dynasty Coins Inscribed ‘Ten Thousand Years’

   • Yuan-bo Pei

   Pages 125-147

9. Temple Coins of the Yuan Dynasty

   • Vladimir A. Belyaev, Sergey V. Sidorovich

   Pages 149-161

10. Lucky Charms from the Ming and the Qing Dynasties

    • Jian Hu

    Pages 163-201

11. Writing against Evil: Epigraphy on Chinese Ya guai Charms

    • François Thierry

    Pages 203-222

12. The Vietnamese Charms in the Department of Coins and Medals of the French National Library

    • Emmanuel Poisson

    Pages 223-233

13. Fuhonsen Coins and the Ancient Japanese Theology

    • Xiao-lin Wang

    Pages 235-243

14. A Book Review of Chinese Charms: Art, Religion and Folk Belief

    • François Thierry

    Pages 245-249

15. Back Matter

    Pages 251-302

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This book offers an in-depth description and analysis of Chinese coin-like charms, which date back to the second century CE and which continued to be used until mid 20th century. This work is unique in that it provides an archaeological and analytical interpretation of the content of these metallic objects: inscriptive, pictorial or both. As the component chapters show, these coin-like objects represent a wealth of Chinese traditional folk beliefs, including but not limited to family values, social obligations and religious desires. The book presents a collection of contributed chapters, gathering a diverse range of perspectives and expertise from some of the world’s leading scholars in the fields of archaeology, religious studies, art history, language and museology. 

The background of the cover image is a page from Guang jin shi yun fu 廣金石韻府, a rhyming dictionary first published in the ninth year of the Kangxi Reign (1652 CE). The metal charm dates back to the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE), depicting two deities traditionally believed to possess the majic power of suppressing evil spirits. The stich-bound book in the foreground is a collection of seal impressions from the beginning of the 20th century. Its wooden press board is inscribed da ji xiang 大吉祥 by Fang Zhi-bin 方質彬 in the year of bing yin (1926 CE).

• Archaeological Interpretation
• Coin-Like Charms and Amulets
• Family Values
• Folk Belief
• Tang Poems
• Universe in Ancient China
• the Five Phases
• the Four Spirits

• Department of Linguistics and Translation, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

  Alex Chengyu Fang

• Département des Monnaies et Médailles, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France

  François Thierry

Alex Chengyu Fang is Associate Professor in linguistics at the Department of Linguistics and Translation, City University of Hong Kong. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. A national expert at the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) representing China on Technical Committee 37, he is an appointed expert member of the China National Technical Committee on Terminology for Standardisation. From 2016, he serves as Member of the Academic Committee of the Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biomedical Information of Hubei Province. He received his BA degree in English Language and Literature from the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages and his PhD degree in computational linguistics from University College London, where he was Deputy Director of Survey of English Usage 1995–1996. He started studying Chinese coins and charms in 1995 while in London and travelled extensively in Europe, the United States, and Asia in search of charms and related literature. Specialising in coin charms from the Tang and the Song dynasties, he is co-founder and standing Vice President of the China Association of Numismatic Charms. In 2008, he sponsored the first public exhibition of Chinese charms and organised the first international symposium devoted to Chinese charms, both events taking place in Hong Kong. He was E.S.G. Robinson Fellow in 2012 and studied the Chinese charms held at the Department of Coins and Medals of the British Museum. He was invited to present his studies on Chinese charms at the Oriental Numismatic Society and the Royal Numismatic Society. He is author of nine books including Chinese Charms: Art, Religion and Folk Belief, published by the Commercial Press in Beijing in 2008.


François Thierry was born in 1950 in Paris and, after secondary school in humanities, studied history and arts in university. He focused his research on the political history of the Late Ottoman Empire. Then he travelled extensively in the Middle East, Caucasus and Soviet Central Asia in the late 1960s and in the 1970s. After he passed the Agrégation in 1977, he became a teacher in Arts. At that time, he started to study Chinese language and history in Paris-7 University. In 1984, he was recruited by the Paris Mint Museum as research fellow for publishing the Far Eastern Coins collection and the famous Treasure of the Emperors of Vietnam kept in that institution. In 1986, he entered the Coins Department of the French National Library as research fellow for the publication of a catalogue of Vietnamese coins. In 1989 he was appointed as Curator of Oriental coins. Since mid 1980s, he started to establish close ties with Chinese colleagues and especially with the China Numismatic Society. François Thierry published many catalogues, studies and papers on Chinese, Vietnamese and pre-Islamic Turkish coins and currency. Past Chief Curator in the Coins Department of the French National Library, he is member of French Numismatic Society, the Royal Numismatic Society and the Hong Kong Numismatic Society. In 2006, he was awarded Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society for his scientific research.

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