Sides of the coin

Browsing through the Sunday markets in Hong Kong, you may have come across traditional Chinese coins. Circular but with a square hole in the centre, these gold coins have Chinese symbols on one side and characters on the other. The characters state the name of the Qing emperor from whose reign the coins date. Nowadays, fung shui masters employ the coins as cures and enhancers, with their metallic nature used to alleviate areas afflicted with negative earth energy.

Coins are placed in groups of five or six then laid in a straight line. They should be placed discreetly; under floor mats or above doors. Sometimes, they are buried under the floor during construction. In offices, placing coins under desks will be more effective than putting them on phones and computer screens because drawing attention to fung shui cures may attract unwanted negative attention.

Some fung shui masters advocate using coins only from the reign of the emperors from the first half of the Qing dynasty, when it was at its peak: emperors Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong and Jiaqing. Should you use coins from later emperors, the results may be less than ideal. Three coins can also be tied with a red string and placed in one's wallet to imply a constant flow of wealth.