When I was a child, my father, who never copy others’ 春联, told me the following interesting story.

Long time ago, there were two 秀才 living in houses opposite to each other. They were very good fiends. However, their relationship was deteriorated because the 春联 issue.

When the Chinese New Year came, people, as usual as before, 张贴春联.  秀才 one  wrote as below to enjoy his bamboos behind the entry door of his house.

“门对千竿竹”

秀才 two saw the 春联. Wow! Wonderful!  Because his door was also facing the bamboos although they do not belong to him, he wrote a 春联 on his door as below:

“门对千竿竹, 家藏万卷书”

In the following morning, 秀才 one saw the above  春联 on 秀才 two’s entry door, and became extremely upset. How could you do this? “They are my bamboos!  You cannot take advantage of it”. He cut off the bamboos and wrote below:

“门对千竿竹短”

秀才 two saw that 秀才 one’s bamboos were cut and the old 春联 was replaced by a new one. He wrote back as below:

“门对千竿竹短, 家藏万卷书长”

Since then, the two 秀才, once good friends, never talked each other.