莽人们必须不断适应这种随着国家治理和两国关系而变迁的边界与空间，以及伴随于此的话语和符号系统的变化。一个突出的例子是钱币的使用：在清朝时，莽人们使用的是清政府制造的银元和铜币，而随着法国殖民者对越南的占据，法国在东南亚发行的贸易银币“Piastre”成为了当地的主要货币。而在二十世纪中叶越南的重新独立以及新中国的成立之后，当地的货币又随之进一步地变迁。但有趣的是，曾经的银元却以某种方式在莽人社区中保留了下来：不再是作为货币，而是被从原初的符号系统中摘取出来，通过新的实践方式为其重新赋予了意义。在莽人的婚礼中，男方需要将一枚银元送给女方作为聘礼。最初，这些银元使用的是清朝制的龙洋，而在之后则使用法国殖民者发行的“Piastre”银元，后者一直沿用至今。这种银币不是作为某种一般等价品，而是作为另一套游戏规则中的信物：收到银元的女方家如果还有男性要娶亲，那嫁出姑娘后获得的这枚银元不能直接使用，而只能卖掉或者送人，然后再购买或者获赠新的银元来使用：由此，银元便按照这样的规则，进入到不断的流通之中。这种方式已经持续了上百年。
让我感兴趣的是莽人们挪用银元这种象征符号的方式，他们如何将它从曾经的系统中剥离出来，又如何为其重新赋值。作为该部分的作品，我以莽人的形象制造了数百枚新的银币，并将之匿名分配至当地社区中。莽人将如何使用这些以自己族群名称命名的银币？是否会将它纳入进已有的交换系统中，或者创造出新的话语和新的交换方式？是否会有关于这些银币的故事被创造和讲述？这些问题也许会在未来的一段时间中得到揭示。

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The Mang people had to constantly adapt to these shifting borders and spaces, and the accompanying changes in discourse and symbolic systems, as the relations between the two countries evolved. A striking example is the use of coins: during the Qing dynasty, the Mang people used copper coins made by the Qing government, while with the occupation of Vietnam by the French colonialists, the Piastre, a silver coin issued by France for trade in Southeast Asia, became the dominant currency there. With the re-independence of Vietnam in the mid-twentieth century and the establishment of the new China, the local currency changed further. Interestingly, however, the silver dollar has somehow survived in the Mang community: no longer as money, but taken out of its original symbolic system and given a new meaning through new practices. In a Mang people's wedding, the man is required to give a silver dollar to the woman as a bride price. The silver piastre was not used as a general equivalent, but as a token in a different set of rules: if a bride's family received a silver dollar and there was another son to get married, the silver dollar received by the married girl could not be used directly, but could only be sold or given away, and a new one bought or given to use: thus, the silver piatres entered into constant circulation according to these rules. This has been going on for hundreds of years.
What interests me is the way in which the symbol of the silver coin has been appropriated, how it has been stripped from the system it once was and how it has been revalued. As part of this work, I have created hundreds of new silver coins in the image of the Mang people and distributed them anonymously to local communities. How will the Mang people use these coins that named after their ethnic group? Will it be incorporated into existing exchange systems, or will new discourses and new forms of exchange be created? Will there be stories created and told about these coins? These questions may be revealed at some point in the future.

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本作品得到广东时代美术馆的支持。

This work is supported by Guangdong Times Museum.