For over a thousand years, Chinese coins had a square hole in them for stringing together and easy carrying. A style of this coin was minted with a riddle stamped around the hole. This riddle uses the square hole in the coin as the Chinese character for mouth （口）. Without the hole the characters don’t make much sense, i.e., 五 means five, and going clockwise from the top, the next character means bird(s) or sparrow(s). Five birds? Nah. By borrowing the 口 in the middle, the message now makes sense. Starting counterclockwise with the bird character, the coin reads: 唯(an older form of I )吾(realize, as in cognizant or am conscious of) 知足(satisfaction). The riddle, 唯吾知足(wéi wú zhīzú), reminds us to be grateful for what we have in life, to know when to be content. This one little coin expresses a thought that traces back to Chinese Han Dynasty. It also demonstrates how context defines Chinese culture and messages. Without the setting, the shared square hole in this case, the message makes no sense.
