Coins as votive offering

In the Tang Dynasty text "Chao Ye Qian Zai [zh]," it is recorded that "In the regions of Bingzhou and Shouyang, there is a Jealous Maiden Spring with a temple dedicated to a deity.

The opera artist Wu Mei [zh] visited White Cloud Temple and saw a chime hanging under a bridge arch over a dry pool.

[3][4] Animals believed to possess spirituality in zoos, or historical relics with auspicious connotations, are often bombarded with a large number of coins or notes.

This blind faith-based practice not only increases the burden on staff at these attractions but also damages the appearance of historical sites and disrupts the living environment of animals.

Not only did the female protagonist's hairstyle and clothing become a fashion trend at the time, but the scene of tossing a coin and making a wish at the Trevi Fountain also became a classic memory of love and romance for a generation.

This practice is not limited to religious sites like Buddhist temples and Taoist shrines; coins are also thrown in places where such acts of prayer are inappropriate, such as the pool in the Peace Park west of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, the showcases of dinosaur fossil skeletons at the National Natural History Museum of China or of the Terra Cotta Warriors at the Shaanxi History Museum.

[6][7]In January 2016, according to a report by West China City Daily, a hanging coffin from the Three Gorges area exhibited in the Wushan Museum [zh] in Chongqing was filled with Renminbi banknotes thrown in by visitors, completely obscuring the ancient human remains inside.

According to interviews conducted by reporters, some tourists were imitating the practice of tossing coins for good luck at temples, hoping to receive blessings from the long-lived animals.

[9] In March 5, 2017, a 20-year-old sea turtle died from suffocation after ingesting coins thrown by tourists at Hunan Martyr's Park Aquarium, Changsha City.

[10] On June 27, 2017, a China Southern Airlines flight from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Guangzhou was delayed when an elderly woman in her eighties was spotted tossing coins into the aircraft's engine for good luck during boarding.

A commentary in the Beijing News compared coin-tossing for blessings to the medieval Catholic Church's practice of selling indulgences, arguing that both share a similar logic and are essentially bad habits that violate order and rules.

The individual Li's actions necessitated aircraft maintenance, leading to flight cancellation and passenger delays, and resulting in an economic loss exceeding 70,000 yuan.

[13][16] On April 2, 2019, at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, a man, following his mother-in-law's advice, threw three coins from the boarding bridge toward the ground beneath for "good luck," causing a 30-minute delay for over a hundred passengers.

[18][19] On April 20, 2019, China Southern Airlines flight CZ8427 from Nanning to Bangkok was delayed because a passenger tossed six coins toward the aircraft's nose at the door-bridge junction.

The passenger was subsequently detained by police[13] On June 4, 2019, a warning sign at Sanya Phoenix Airport stating "Throwing coins at an aircraft for good luck is an illegal act that jeopardizes safety and harms your own blessings" has appeared online, sparking renewed public discussion.

[20] On October 29, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., during boarding for China Southern Airlines flight CZ3121 from Guangzhou Baiyun to Beijing Daxing, maintenance staff spotted a passenger throwing coins towards the aircraft.

[23] On the other hand, Yonghe Temple in Beijing considers coin tossing disruptive to the order of the scenic area and highly damaging to artifacts.

To protect the cultural relics, the management of Yonghe Temple has installed fences, cautionary lines, warning signs, and even glass covers around the artifacts.

[34] In March 2017, a 25-year-old turtle in a pond in Thonburi, Thailand, developed a swollen stomach which caused a cracked shell due to ingesting a large quantity of coins tossed into the water by visitors seeking good luck.