Chinese Coins

Round coins with a square hole — read as metal, and as the heaven-and-earth form. The traditional coin's round shape with a square hole is read as heaven and earth, and the material places it in the metal family. Coins are used in sets — most often three, six or nine — and are tied or displayed rather than scattered.

This database documents placement principles, not outcomes. Round coins with a square hole — read as metal, and as the heaven-and-earth form. The coin is one of the few objects where the form reading is older than the feng shui use — the shape carried meaning in the currency before it carried meaning on a wall.

The coin's form is genuinely classical and the heaven/earth reading attached to it is documented well outside feng shui. The specific set numbers belong to popular practice. It is grouped under Metal (金) in the five-element system.