English: A Tadpole script coin charm with a Confucian message on it. The inscription bu tan wei bao (不貪為寶) is written in seal script and translates as “not being greedy is a treasure”. The phrase is a reference to a story in the Chinese work Zuo Zuan (左传), also known as the “Commentary of Zuo”, which is a very ancient text describing recorded historical events during the period 722 BC – 478 BC of the Spring and Autumn Period. The story is about Zi Han (子罕), a high government official of the state of Song during the Zhou Dynasty period, who was known to be virtuous and wise.

The story appears in the book’s “Fifteenth Year of Duke Xiang” 《左传·襄公十五年》as follows:

One day, a peasant came to see him. The peasant had found a stone which an expert had confirmed was a valuable piece of jade. The peasant wanted to present this treasure to Zi Han. Zi Han, however, refused to accept the jade.

Zi Han said to the peasant, “You consider the jade to be a treasure while I consider ‘not being greedy’ to be a treasure. If I receive the jade, you will have lost your treasure and I, too, will have lost my treasure. It would be better if both of us keep our own personal treasures.”

宋人或得玉，献诸子罕。子罕弗受。献玉者曰：“以示玉人，玉人以为宝也，故敢献之。”子罕曰：“我以不贪为宝，尔以玉为宝，若以与我，皆丧宝也。不若人有其宝。