China and Japan · Xianyang, near Xi'an, China
Chinese Lucky Coins
Also known as Cash coins, Charm coins, Yansheng qian
Round like heaven, square at the centre like the earth: the old Chinese cash coin became one of the best loved tokens of prosperity and good fortune in East Asia.
For more than two thousand years, Chinese money kept the same shape: a round coin with a square hole in the middle. Long after such coins stopped buying anything, people went on tying them with red cord, hanging them by doors, tucking them into purses and giving them at New Year as tokens of prosperity and good fortune.
From everyday money to lucky token
Round coins with a square hole were already in use in the state of Qin before its rulers unified China. After unification in 221 BCE, the Qin made this coin, the ban liang, the standard money of the whole empire. Their capital stood near present-day Xi’an, and from there the design reached every province.
The shape proved remarkably durable. Dynasty after dynasty kept it, from the Han wu zhu to the Tang kaiyuan tongbao and the coins of the Qing emperors, and neighbouring Japan, Korea and Vietnam adopted it too. The square hole was practical: coins could be threaded on a cord in long strings, and in English they are usually called .
Alongside real money, makers began to cast coin-shaped charms. These charm coins, known in Chinese as , appeared during the Western Han dynasty. Instead of a value they carried wishes, auspicious phrases, zodiac animals, stars or figures from legend, and they were made to be kept, worn or hung rather than spent.
Heaven, earth and wordplay
The coin’s shape is often read as a small picture of the cosmos. In traditional Chinese thought heaven was imagined as round and the earth as square, so a round coin with a square centre brings the two together. Many people see in it a wish for harmony between the forces above and the life of the household below.
Wordplay adds further layers. The square hole is called the coin’s “eye”, and the word for bat, fu, sounds like the word for good fortune. A bat shown beside a coin therefore forms a picture puzzle read as “good fortune before your eyes”. Coins with this and similar meanings decorate embroidered purses, porcelain and carved jade.
The red cord matters as much as the metal. Red is the colour of celebration and protection in Chinese culture, and a knot of red thread is believed to bind the good wishes to the coins. The colour links them with the red string worn in many other traditions.
How the coins are used
- Three coins on red cord, carried in a purse or wallet, are a popular wish for steady prosperity.
- Coins by the front door, sometimes under the doormat, are placed to welcome good fortune into the home.
- Five Emperors coins, a set from five successive Qing reigns of the seventeenth to early nineteenth centuries, are kept by some families as a wish for a stable, flourishing household.
- Coin swords, made of many coins bound together in the shape of a blade, were traditionally hung above a bed or doorway for protection.
- Coins in New Year gifts recall the old custom of giving children money strung on red thread at the turn of the year.
That New Year custom is one of the clearest survivals. The traditional name for the gift, yasui qian, means money that “presses down the year”, and its sound also suggests holding misfortune at bay. Today the coins have mostly given way to red envelopes, but the idea of a small gift of money as a blessing for the year ahead lives on.
Old coins, new charms
Antique cash coins survive in great numbers, because they were cast in vast quantities over many centuries. Most lucky coins sold today, however, are modern brass pieces, often modelled on Qing coins, and many carry phrases chosen for their good meaning rather than the inscription of a real reign. Both are used in the same spirit.
In feng shui practice, coins sit beside other household emblems such as the bagua mirror above the door. In Japan, the beckoning Maneki-neko often holds an oval gold coin in its paw. Across East Asia these objects share a simple visual language: round shapes, bright colours and images that speak of plenty.
Choosing and keeping lucky coins
Lucky coins make thoughtful gifts for a new home, a new business or the Lunar New Year. Three coins tied with a neat red knot are the classic choice, and many people enjoy tying the knot themselves while thinking of the person who will receive them.
Keep them somewhere clean and in daily use rather than forgotten in a drawer: a purse, a desk, a hook by the door. When the red cord fades or frays, many people retie it with fresh thread, often at New Year, as a small renewal of the wish it carries. For more ideas, see talismans for prosperity and the wider traditions of China and Japan.
taliaris describes beliefs and customs; it makes no claim that a talisman has an effect.