Have you ever noticed a coin taped on a shop vendor's calculator in China? When I first saw that, I thought maybe the calculator was broken, and the vendor had to tape a coin on it to hold something in place. But a friend later explained to me that the vendor put it there intentionally to bring good luck. Coins represent money, and the vendor taped one on her calculator to bring more business to her shop every time she uses it.

Chinese people also use coins in other ways to bring good fortune. In Shanghai, when people renovate their apartments, they put a coin in the foundation before they lay the floor to bring wealth to the household.

In Northern China, a few new, clean coins are randomly put into dumplings during the Chinese New Year. When the family enjoys the festive dumpling meal together, the persons who get the coin-filled dumplings will have a prosperous year ahead.

Bryan tells me that hiding coins in food is not unique to China, because when he was growing up in Colorado, his mom used to wrap coins and paper clips in individual aluminum foil packets and hide them in her home-baked birthday cakes. He would feel very happy to get a quarter in his piece of cake, and would be disappointed if he only got the paper clip!

(selected from 101 Stories for Foreigners to Understand Chinese People by Yi S. Ellis and Bryan D. Ellis, published by China Intercontinental Press in 2012)