 Coins of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) generally carried the era name of the emperor and "tongbao" on the obverse and the mint location where the coins were cast in Manchu and Chinese on the reverse.In Imperial China cash coins were used for fortune-telling, this would be done by first lighting incense to the effigy of a Chinese deity, and then placing 3 cash coins into a tortoise shell.The process involved the fortune teller counting how many coins lay on their obverse or reverse sides, and how these coins scratched the shell, this process was repeated 3 times.