Do You Need a Qianlong Tongbao Coin for Plum Blossom Numerology? Clearing Up the Confusion About Coins

Someone once brought a Qianlong Tongbao coin and asked: is this one old enough, will it work well for casting a hexagram? Another asked whether the Guangxu-era coin found at home is somehow inferior to a Qianlong one. Behind these questions lies a more basic misunderstanding — Plum Blossom Numerology (Meihua Yishu) was never meant to rely on coins for casting hexagrams in the first place.

The defining strength of Plum Blossom Numerology is that it needs no tools at all. Hearing a bird call outside, seeing a few books stacked on the table, blurting out a random number, or noting the exact hour and minute — any of these can serve as the basis for casting a hexagram. Its core methods are "casting by encountered objects" and "casting by numbers," and the essence lies in observation and image-taking (qu xiang), which has nothing to do with whether you're holding a coin, let alone which reign era it's from. This method is traditionally traced back to Shao Yong (Shao Kangjie) of the Song Dynasty, and its most famous story is the tale of watching plum blossoms: seeing two sparrows fight over a branch and fall to the ground, he cast a hexagram on the spot and predicted that a young woman would fall while picking flowers the next day. No coins were involved at any point.

So Which Method Actually Uses Coins

The method of tossing three coins and determining each line by heads or tails is Liu Yao, also known as Najia divination or the "money hexagram" method. This is the method genuinely tied to coins.

The general procedure for Liu Yao goes like this: hold three coins together in your palm, shake them, and toss them out, then observe how many faces (the reverse side) land facing up. Traditionally, the side bearing characters is treated as Yin, and the side without characters (or bearing Manchu script or a pattern) is treated as Yang — though some schools reverse this convention. Different schools have slightly different rules, but the key is to fix your own convention before casting and stick with it consistently. You toss six times, arranging six lines from bottom to top to form a Liu Yao hexagram, then interpret it by matching it with Earthly Branches, the Six Relatives, and the Ruling/Responding lines.

So the idea of "casting with a Qianlong Tongbao coin," if it applies to any real practice, most likely refers to Liu Yao, not Plum Blossom Numerology. The two methods have been conflated largely because films and street-side fortune-tellers have turned "coin divination" into the single generic image of fortune-telling.

Why Qianlong Tongbao Specifically

Within Liu Yao itself, Qianlong Tongbao coins are indeed a popular first choice for casting, and the reasons are fairly practical rather than mystical.

One reason is usability. Qianlong Tongbao coins were minted in huge quantities and many genuine specimens survive today at low cost, with a size and thickness that feels stable in the hand and when tossed on a table, and the two faces are easy to distinguish. By comparison, some smaller coins are too thin and light, tending to roll around when dropped, making it harder to read the faces.

Another reason is auspicious association. "Qianlong" (乾隆) sounds similar to "qian long" (钱隆), suggesting rising fortune, and the Qianlong reign is remembered as a peak period of national strength in the Qing Dynasty. Folk belief holds that using coins from this era for divination carries a stronger "energy field." You can take this or leave it — it affects the diviner's mindset, not the logic of the hexagram itself.

Some also insist on using "old coins that have circulated," believing that coins passed through many hands absorb some kind of "human energy" and respond better than newly minted reproductions. This is a traditional preference, and personally I don't treat it as a hard requirement — what actually matters is your focus at the moment of casting, not the coin's age. If age itself were the real threshold, then Guangxu Tongbao, Daoguang Tongbao, or even the much older Kaiyuan Tongbao would qualify equally as "old coins" — why single out Qianlong? As for which coin is more "effective," I tend to think this comes down to habit and psychology, not any inherent superiority of method.

Can Modern Coins Be Used

Yes.

The principle behind Liu Yao casting is generating a random heads-or-tails outcome, and the coin is simply a tool for producing that randomness. Modern coins — a 50-cent piece, a one-yuan coin — work just as well for tossing heads and tails and casting a hexagram. The points that actually matter are these:

• Use three identical coins. Same denomination, same design, so differences in size or weight don't affect your reading of heads and tails, and don't leave you second-guessing yourself.
• Fix which side is Yang and which is Yin beforehand. Decide clearly before casting which face of the modern coin counts as Yang and which as Yin, and don't change the convention partway through — doing so throws the whole hexagram into disorder.
• Avoid coins with thick edges. Some coins are prone to landing on their edge or getting wedged in gaps on the table, which only complicates the casting process. Choose coins that are flat and easy to read.

If you're practicing Plum Blossom Numerology, it's even simpler — you don't need coins at all. Reciting a number, checking the time, counting objects around you: any of these can trigger a casting at any moment. The lighter the tool requirement, the greater its strength.

So How Should You Choose

First, be clear about which method you're practicing. If you want to learn casting by encountered objects and casting by numbers, something portable you can use anytime, go with Plum Blossom Numerology — no coins needed at all. If you want to learn coin-tossing to arrange the Six Relatives and match Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches for judgment, go with Liu Yao, and in that case, prepare three coins that feel right in your hand.

If your budget allows and you want peace of mind, buying three genuine Qianlong Tongbao coins costs only a small amount, and using them regularly helps build a sense of familiarity. If you'd rather keep things simple, three one-yuan coins in your pocket work just as well for casting — the accuracy of the reading has nothing to do with whether the coins are from the Qing Dynasty or minted this year. What truly determines the accuracy of a hexagram is how calm your mind is at the moment of casting, how correctly you take the images (qu xiang), and how familiar you are with the system as a whole.

Whether the coin is old or new — that worry, you can set aside.