Years ago the Chinese took a much more conservative approach toward New Year's scrolls. Folk scholar Shih Tsui-feng relates that in the past all classes of people would invariably paste up scrolls asking for fortune or succor in their means livelihood. Only rarely would they ask for favor beyond their station in life.
民俗學家施翠峰便說，以前無論士農工商，各戶所撰的春聯內容，總是在工作或職業的範圍內討吉祥、抒懷抱負，很少越區做非份之想。