Cleaning out the old is a Chinese New Years tradition in Asia:
“”Congratulations! Get rich!” goes the greeting heard throughout Chinese New Year. But while there’s no guarantee you’ll get rich in the coming year, you can get a houseful of hand-me-downs by scavenging the streets for discarded furniture right now.
Among the many traditions of the Lunar New Year — a visit to Dihua Street or a week of endless eating — is the time-honored task of qujiubuxin (去舊佈新), or getting rid of the old to make room for the new.
Now is when closets are cleaned, kitchens are cleared and sitting rooms are stripped bare in anticipation of all the things a thick red envelope might buy. And when all that old stuff is brought out to the street, it brings out both antiques enthusiasts and bachelors looking to replace sagging boxes with actual bookshelves.
Of course, the vast majority of stuff thrown out of a person’s home isn’t going to make its way into anyone else’s home, but one man’s trash is sometimes another man’s treasure.”
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