The usage of cash coins in the Chinese religious practice of feng shui is commonplace influencing many superstitions involving them. Believers in feng shui believe in a primal life force called qi (or chi) and apply their beliefs to the design of residential houses, as well as to commercial and public buildings, sometimes incorporating cash coins into the flow of this qi.
Cash coins are category of ancient Chinese coinage which are typically round in shape and have a square central hole, these coins were used as the main currency of imperial China between 221 BC and 1912 AD. In feng shui cash coins are believed to be able to attract wealth and prosperity and to ward off "evil spirits" (). However, placing them an outward facing position is believed to cause misfortune and placing them at the wrong places supposedly attracts "evil spirits" and poverty. For this reason special care is usually taken by feng shui practitioners when handling cash coins. While classic Chinese coins can come in a huge variety, particular categories of them enjoy more celebrity status than others, this is because Feng shui practitioners believe that some cash coin inscriptions are more auspicious than others, for example the Qianlong Tongbao () is commonly seen as an auspicious inscription because it was produced in a period of military and economic ascendancy in Chinese history, while the Xuanhe Tongbao () is seen as inauspicious because it was produced during a more tumultuous era.
Feng shui practitioners typically place cash coins that are strung together somewhere in their house or in a cash register to supposedly attract wealth, alternatively they may carry them around as an accessory or place them in their wallet for good luck. A common way cash coins are used in feng shui is as a set of 5 coins known as the "Five Emperor Coins" (see below), these are often used as counters to hanging beams or exposed pillars. When used for such purposes, the 5 coins are often tied together with a red string (as red is seen as an auspicious colour) so as to charge them with yang energy. When combined with Taoist beliefs cash coins could be strung in the shape of a sword to scare away evil spirits.
Because of their common association with feng shui, cash coins are commonly referred to as feng shui coins in English.
The application of cash coins in feng shui should not be confused with the use of cash coin and cash coin-like amulets as "lucky charms" outside of feng shui, their usage in traditional Chinese medicine, or their usage in traditional Chinese fortune telling.
Chinese cash coins
The cash coin became the main standard currency of China in 221 BC with the Ban Liang () and would be produced until 1912 AD there with the Minguo Tongbao (). Cash coins are characterised by their round outer shape and a square center hole (). The hole in the centre of the coins allowed them to be strung together.Department of Economic History – London School of Economics Money and Monetary System in China in 19–20th Century: an Overview by Debin Ma. Economic History Department London School of Economics Dec. 2011 Chapter contribution to Encyclopedia of Financial Globalization edited by Charles Calomiris and Larry Neal forthcoming with Elsevier. Published: January 2012. Retrieved: 05 February 2018.
Originally cast during the Warring States period, these coins continued to be used for the entirety of Imperial China.Numis' Numismatic Encyclopedia. A reference list of 5000 years of Chinese coinage. (Numista) Written on December 9, 2012 • Last edit: June 13, 2013 Retrieved: 16 June 2017 The last Chinese cash coins were cast in the first year of the Republic of China. Generally most cash coins were made from copper or bronze alloys, with iron, lead, and zinc coins occasionally used less often throughout Chinese history. Rare silver and gold cash coins were also produced. During most of their production, cash coins were cast, but during the late Qing dynasty, machine-struck cash coins began to be made. As the cash coins produced over Chinese history were similar, thousand year old cash coins produced during the Northern Song dynasty continued to circulate as valid currency well into the early twentieth century.Kann p. 385.
Over the years, cash coins have had many different inscriptions, and the Wu Zhu () inscription, which first appeared under the Han dynasty, became the most commonly used inscription and was often used by succeeding dynasties for 700 years until the introduction of the Kaiyuan Tongbao () during the Tang dynasty. This was also the first time regular script was used as all earlier cash coins exclusively used seal script. During the Song dynasty a large number of different inscriptions was used, and several different styles of Chinese calligraphy were used, even on coins with the same inscriptions produced during the same period. These cash coins are known as matched coins (). This was originally pioneered by the Southern Tang. During the Yuan dynasty, largely deprecated copper coinage was abandoned in favour of paper money. This trend continued under the Ming dynasty. Cash coins only contained the era names of the emperor during the Ming dynasty. Due to a naming taboo the term "Yuanbao" () was phased out from cash coin inscriptions as the founder of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had the word "Yuan" () in his name. The trend of exclusively using the era names on currencies continued during the Qing dynasty, and all cash coins issued during this period were written in regular script.
Outside of China, Chinese cash coins have inspired the design of the Japanese mon,TAKIZAWA Takeo, (1996) Nihon no Kahei no Rekishi (History of Japanese Currencies) Tokyo, Yoshikawa Kobunkan. Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese vănED. TODA. (1882) ANNAM and its minor currency. Dr. R. Allan Barker. (2004) The historical Cash Coins of Viet Nam. currencies and the last series of cash coins produced in the world were the French Indochinese Bảo Đại Thông Bảo (保大通寶) during the 1940s.
Significance of cash coins in feng shui
Chinese people in the past believed that "similar things come together" and in this principle they believed that objects and events of the same nature will gather together: flowers go with flowers, grass goes with grass, gold goes with gold, like-minded people gather together, Etc. Therefore, they believed that hanging coins in the house will attract more money to their household or their village.
Feng shui masters () recommend the use of old Chinese cash coins to enhance the feng shui of a house (for the usage of old Chinese charms in the house, see "Chinese house charms"). In feng shui certain cash coins are thought to be able to provide protection and promote good fortune. Generally speaking, Feng shui masters always have a large number of Chinese copper-alloy cash coins on hand. This is because cash coins, as well as jade, are the basic tools used to adjust the yin and yang forces of a house. The reasons why cash coins have an important role in feng shui are numerous and concerns the very nature of Chinese cash coins as they have always been a potent instrument in feng shui.
The reasons why Chinese cash coins have an important place in feng shui include:
1. The Chinese cash coin is a (historical) type of currency and therefore represents good fortune, wealth, and prosperity. 2. A pair of Chinese cash coins () is one of the "Eight Treasures", also known as the Eight Precious Things.Ghoteborg.com Eight Precious Things (Babao) by Jan-Brik Nilsson. Retrieved: 11 July 2018. 3. Money is a homophonic pun for "right before your eyes", this is because the word "money" () sounds like the word for front (), and the square in the coin was sometimes referenced as "the eye of the coin". 4. Chinese cash coins reflect ancient Chinese philosophy concerning the relationship of the heavens, earth, and man. This is because in cash coins are commonly believed that the round shape of the coin symbolised the supposed round shape of the sky (), while the centre hole in this analogy is said to represent the planet earth (), known as .BELAUBRE Jean, "Un technicien méconnu du monnayage : René Mercier et la sapèque Bảo Đại, 1933". Bulletin de la Société Française de Numismatique, avril 1980, n°4, pp. 685–687. (in French). Furthermore, it is also common for cash coins to have the name of the reigning emperor, who in ancient Chinese philosophy was the representative of man () on earth, inscribed into them in the area between the round rim and the square central hole. Therefore, old Chinese cash coins display the proper relationship of the heavens (circle – rim) and earth (square – hole) with man (emperor – inscription) standing in between (), giving them great power in feng shui. This means that the "powers" contained in these types of coins are not just due to them originating from the historical emperors, but also because these emperors have had them designed according to Chinese metaphysics. 5. Coins are metallic objects and are therefore one of the in Chinese philosophy element of metal (). As Old Chinese cash coins are typically made of copper alloys they are seen as being better able to absorb aura than either gold or silver. Though in feng shui it is also believed that metal objects can have evil spirits within them. Because of their association with the metal element they can vent the rusticity of two blacks and five yellows (). 6. Throughout Chinese history many of these cash coins may have been used for feng shui purposes in the past, meaning that they would have been buried according to practices of feng shui in places that were considered to be the best areas where the forces of wind, water, and earth were at their strongest. 7. Chinese cash coins which were cast during periods when the Chinese Empire was strong are considered to carry both the message of "prosperity and development" () and the message of "suppression of evils" (). 8. Chinese cash coins are considered to have absorbed and concentrated the power of millions of people into small objects because they circulated as money for hundreds of years. Meaning that the often switched hands and allowed for the energy of the owners to rub off on the coins.
Cash coins when used for feng shui purposes can be combined with other feng shui items to enhance their usage. For example, if they are added to a Pixiu, it can strengthen the wealth effect of the Pixiu statuette, and if you add it to Qilin, it can also increase the power of eliminating evil spirits of the Qilin statuette. Other examples include gourds, where they supposedly strengthen its healing functions and countering evil spirits (sha qì), mystic knots for protection, and crystals for wealth.
While feng shui coins are typically made from copper alloys, they can also be made from stone, jade, other metals, Etc.
Cash coins considered to be suitable and unsuitable for feng shui
Some cash coins considered to be suitable and others unsuitable for feng shui to provide protection from evil and the promotion of good fortune, on this Chinese Feng shui masters note that the supposed "effectiveness" of a cash coin is dependent on the coin's alloy and quality, how many people have previously used it, and the time period when the cash coin was produced.
Factors typically considered by Feng shui masters include:
1. The metal content and quality of a cash coin is often seen as the first consideration, this is because historical Chinese cash coins were not purely made from copper but were typically made from copper alloys. In feng shui it is believed that metal objects themselves can be possessed by evil spirits diminishing their supposed "effectiveness" in the practice to suppress ghosts.