File:Sun Yat-sen “Memento” Coin - Primal Trek 01.jpg

English: A commemorative silver coin issued by the government of Republic of China during its "Mainland period" commemorating the founding of the Republic of China in 1912. The Dr. Sun Yat-sen “Memento” Coin is one of the most easily recognised silver coins from the early days of the Republic of China, also known as the "Mainland period" in Chinese historiography (or "Taiwanese historiography"). This old silver coin displays the profile of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the first (1st) president of the Republic of China, with the inscriptions written in both the Mandarin Chinese and English languages. The Mandarin Chinese inscription on its obverse side is written right-to-left in Traditional Chinese characters and reads "國民華中" (which would be read as "中華民國" in the modern reading) at the top and "幣念紀國開" at the bottom. The English inscription reads “Memento Birth of Republic of China” on the reverse side. The reverse side of the "Memento" (commemorative) silver coin has the denomination “one yuan” (壹圓) written vertically in its centre.

An earlier version of the coin had been produced in the first (1st) year of the Republic of China (1912) to commemorate its establishment, but after Yuan Shikai became the President of the Republic of China (now commonly referred to as the "President of Taiwan") its production ceased in the (Gregorian) year of 1913. This scan is of a “one (1) yuan” (“one (1) dollar”) coins later resumed production and the specimen displayed here was struck in the City of Nanjing (the then-capital of the Republic of China) in 1927.

There are multiple "hidden symbols" present on both the obverse and reverse side of this silver coin. For example, the Chinese character "min" (民), which means “people”, is written in what is considered to be a very unusual manner. The Traditional Chinese character "民" can be seen at about the 11 (elevent) o’clock position on the obverse side of this coin. What is unusual about it is the fact that the “right leg” of the "民" character here actually extends upwards to just be above the very top of the Traditional Chinese character. This type of writing is based on the Mandarin Chinese expression “to go out the head”, which is pronounced as "chu tou" (出头) and can be translated into the English language as “to lift one’s head” or “to free oneself”. Just as this Traditional Chinese character here is written with a stroke “going out the head”, the implied meaning in this context is that the Chinese people should free themselves from the past, meaning that China is now a Republic after living for thousands of years of under imperial rule. Furthermore, at both the 3 (3) o’clock and 9 (nine) o’clock positions of this silver coin, are five-petal (5-petal) flowers which represent the plum blossom flower (or simply "the plum flower". In this context, the plum flower is a traditional Chinese symbol which represents both "courage" and "hope". Here it also refers to the “five blessings”. While it would later become the national flower, here on this coin it symbolises the “Five-Power Constitution”, which divides the Chinese government (or now the "Taiwanese government") into 5 (five) branches, as was advocated by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the initial President of the Republic of China.

On the reverse side are a number of other "hidden symbols", among them is a representations of grains, such as the ears of wheat, which are actually present on both sides of the coin. This train symbolises the fact that Dr. Sun Yat-sen wanted the new coin to display the “five (5) cereals” or “five (5) grains”, also known as the "Wugu" (五谷) in the Mandarin Chinese language, to signify the importance of agriculture in Chinese culture and to signify the hope that the Chinese people would always have plenty of food to eat and never suffer from starvation again. Furthermore, this is further symbolised by the fact that below the ears of wheat are rice plants, which are used in Traditional Chinese iconography to signify a bountiful harvest.

Above the rice plants are three (3) leaves. The "hidden meaning" of these three (3) leaves is that they are meant to represent the Three People’s Principles” as was advocated by the revolutionary Dr. Sun Yat-sen (these include "Nationalism", "Democracy", and the "People’s Livelihood" / "People's welfare").

Finally, at the 2 (two) o’clock and 10 (ten) o’clock positions of the silver coin are six-sided (6-sided) stars. On this specific coin, the six-sided (6-sided) stars were placed on the reverse side in order to distinguish it from previous depictions of stars as a “new” type of coin with "new" types of symbols was made for the newly established government of the Republic of China. Previously machine-struck Chinese coins had often displayed stars of various shapes and of various types, and further these stars were usually placed on the obverse side of the coin as opposed to being on the reverse side as they are here.