Anness Publishing Richard Craze

Yansheng coins (traditional Chinese: 厭勝錢; simplified Chinese: 厌胜钱; pinyin: yàn shèng qián), commonly known as Chinese numismatic charms, refer to a collection of special decorative coins that are mainly used for rituals such as fortune telling, Chinese superstitions, and feng shui. They originated during the Western Han dynasty as a variant of the contemporary Ban Liang and Wu Zhu cash coins. Over the centuries, they evolved into their own commodity, with many different shapes and sizes. Their u…