Gold

No not real gold, just oranges masquerading as gold.

So the story is that oranges are popular around Chinese New Year because they represent gold. That they are particularly juicy around this time of year is possibly just a happy coincidence - or maybe it works the other way... some Chinese guy realised oranges were delicious around CNY and then made up a tale about them looking like gold as an excuse for buying a barrow load of them... Who knows?

What I do know is that the first time I met my Chinese mother-in-law, I looked in the fridge and found it almost entirely full of oranges.
Four shelves in the fridge:
Top shelf, oranges.
Bottom shelf, oranges.
Third shelf, oranges.
Second shelf, ?
Second shelf, a six pack of Guinness.
Nothing else at all in the fridge.

We have a lot to learn from the Chinese.