This dissertation examines the consumption and creative reappropriation of used and discarded material things by urban Chinese, exploring how these practices enable the creation of alternative values and ways of living. Despite China's economic growth since 1979 leading to improved living standards and a stigma against secondhand goods, recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in thrift and creative reuse, particularly among younger generations during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic slowdown. The research investigates how urban Chinese navigate the tensions between persistent anxieties surrounding used items and the emerging desire to engage with secondhand consumption. It asks: What modes of being and imagining are enacted through engagements with old and used things? How do practices involving used goods allow individuals to explore and enact alternative values, especially in a context where overt critique is limited? Based on ethnographic research conducted from 2017 to 2023, including six months of in-person fieldwork in Beijing and three years of part-time remote research, the dissertation is structured in three chapters: 1. An examination of how secondhand dealers negotiate anxieties surrounding used items, reframing the unknowable aspects that make these objects potentially dangerous into sources of value. How can the same historicity that is so often interpreted as contagion become a source of social distinction and value? 2. An exploration of how senior citizens in a historic neighborhood undergoing redevelopment repurpose devalued, old everyday objects to create a sense of belonging. How do these things, rich with historicity, instill value in everyday historical experiences and the neighbors who lived them? 3. An analysis of the viral trend of "stooping" among young people during the pandemic, where discarded objects from the street were reappropriated as a means of reimagining economic, ethical, and aesthetic aspects of daily life. How are attitudes toward consumption, what counts as beautiful, and ethical orientations toward the self, others, and the environment shifting in China today? By investigating these diverse practices, the dissertation contributes to our understanding of how individuals and communities engage with material culture to navigate social change, economic uncertainty, and shifting values in contemporary urban China. It highlights the creative potential inherent in the reuse and repurposing of objects, demonstrating how these practices can serve as a means of exploring alternative ways of living in a rapidly changing society.