This is a Chinese numismatic charm that depicts a number of Daoist immortals from the religion of Daoism. As Gary Ashkenazy stated on his Primaltrek / Primal Trek website: <span style="color:green" title="green">"King Mu Seeking Drug of Immortality from Queen Mother of the West The inscription reads chang sheng bao ming. The chang sheng would translate as “long life” and bao ming translates as “protect life”."</span> The obverse inscription of this specific Chinese numismatic charm is a rather auspicious saying. 
<p>A number of different symbols are also present on this Chinese numismatic charm. As Gary Ashkenazy stated on his Primaltrek / Primal Trek website: <span style="color:green" title="green">"The symbols on the reverse side are as follows:"</span> 
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<ul><li><span style="color:green" title="green">"1. At the top are seven dots connected by a zigzag line which is meant to represent the “Big Dipper“."</span></li>
<li><span style="color:green" title="green">"2. The figure at the left is “Dong Wang Gong”, the Royal Lord of the East, who was actually King Mu of the Zhou (Zhou Mu Wang)."</span></li>
<li><span style="color:green" title="green">"3. The figure at the right is the Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wang Mu)."</span></li>
<li><span style="color:green" title="green">"4. At the bottom is a circle (which represents the moon).  Inside the circle is a rabbit using a pestle and mortar."</span></li></ul><p>These symbols tell a story from the mythology of the Daoist religion that allures to the quest for immortality. As Gary Ashkenazy stated on his Primaltrek / Primal Trek website: <span style="color:green" title="green">"The scene describes King Mu asking the Queen Mother of the West to give him the drug of immortality. The drug of immortality was made by the rabbit that lived on the moon."</span> The person on this quest being King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty requesting the Queen Mother of the West. Another character mentioned in the story depicted on this particular Chinese numismatic charm is the story of the "Jade moon rabbit". As Gary Ashkenazy stated on his Primaltrek / Primal Trek website: <span style="color:green" title="green">"Because of the wear on the charm, it is difficult to see the rabbit. If you look closely at the circle, the rabbits ears are at the 12 o’clock position, the tail is at 3 o’clock, and the legs are at 5 o’clock. The rabbit is facing left and slightly bent over. The rabbit is making the drug of immortality using the pestle and mortar. The top of the pestle is pointing to the 11 o’clock position."</span> Which describes this rabbit engaging in an activity while holding a pestle and mortar. 
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The exact origins of this design cannot be clearly determined as this particular Chinese numismatic charm may have been produced under Jurchen rule or under Mongol rule. As Gary Ashkenazy stated on his Primaltrek / Primal Trek website: <span style="color:green" title="green">"It is very difficult to date charms but charms like this first appeared in the Jin (1115-1234) or Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties."</span> Furthermore, Chinese numismatic charms with this design tend to be fairly large in size. As Gary Ashkenazy stated on his Primaltrek / Primal Trek website: <span style="color:green" title="green">"A size of 58 mm is about right for this charm."</span> Though in general Chinese numismatic charms seem to be bigger in size than Chinese cash coins.
Unknown engraver in imperial China.
<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://primaltrek.com/blog/2011/05/02/royal-lord-of-the-east-and-the-queen-mother-of-the-west/">Royal Lord of the East and the Queen Mother of the West by Gary Ashkenazy on May 2, 2011</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://primaltrek.com/blog">Primal Trek - a journey through Chinese culture</a> (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://primaltrek.com/changshengbaoming.jpg">Source image</a>).</li></ul><ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://primaltrek.com/blog/2011/05/08/quest-for-longevity-daoist-charm/">“Quest for Longevity” Daoist Charm by Gary Ashkenazy on May 8, 2011</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://primaltrek.com/blog">Primal Trek - a journey through Chinese culture</a> (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://primaltrek.com/blog/2011/05/08/quest-for-longevity-daoist-charm/#commentform">Source image 1</a> / <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://primaltrek.com/daoist.html#fu_shou_yan_chang">Source image 2</a>).</li></ul>