Worshippers pack Yonghegong Temple in Beijing yesterday, the 15th day of the first lunar month. [Cui Meng / China Daily]

Growing throngs overcrowd temples to seek divine blessings during the Spring Festival. Xu Lin reports.

Su Shanchang was excited when she made it to Yonghegong Temple to burn incense after spending hours in line in the morning of Jan 23 (the Lunar New Year's first day).

"There were huge crowds, and I felt like I was taking the subway during rush hour," the Beijing company product supervisor says.

"I was exhausted after I stood outdoors for hours on such a cold morning."

She joined the line at 4 am and killed time by playing her PlayStation Portable and reading e-books on her mobile phone. The gate opened three hours later, but she had to wait until those who had entered before her left.

"The temple is famous for effectively transmitting prayers," she says. "I pray for health, wealth and marriage. I'm not a Buddhist, but I burn incense in every temple I visit."

It's a Chinese tradition to burn joss sticks and pray for good fortune on the first and 15th day of every lunar month, especially the first of the year.

Temple visits dramatically increase on these days. The Tibetan Buddhist monastery Yonghegong - aka Lama Temple - in Beijing received about 66,700 visitors on Jan 23, and from 17,000 to 27,000 visitors in the past few days.

Liang Anlin, who owns a nearby incense store, says these days keep business going.

"Sales aren't that good because there are so many incense stores here," Liang says. "Sometimes, I earn fewer than 100 yuan ($16) a day. But on the afternoon of Jan 23, I sold more than 1,100 yuan worth in an hour and a half."

There were so many visitors that day that Yonghegong Street was put under traffic control.

No cars or buses were allowed on the road, and the subway didn't stop at Yonghegong. So, people had to walk about 1,000 meters to the temple from the nearest stop.

Outside, 1,200 police and Dongcheng district government workers maintained order, while 740 Yonghegong employees did the same inside.

Yonghegong's security chief Zhai Xudong says the number of visitors this year was twice that of eight years ago.

"It's the first year we're using X-ray machines in security checks," Zhai says. "Before, we just did random checks with portable scanners on busy days."

Zhai says there are usually 14 incense burners in 13 locations, but authorities put only seven in front of three halls on these high-traffic days to decrease the fire risk.

"Avoiding fire and stampedes is most important," Zhai says. "We started preparing a month ago, and our security is better every year."

Zhai says his ilk must sacrifice their Spring Festival celebrations with their families to ensure the temple's security. "One security guard worked 37 hours straight, because we had to ensure fire protection at night," Zhai says. "Even one small spark from fireworks can be dangerous."

Five trucks loaded with incense ash and 16 trucks of unburned and half-burned joss were transported to a landfill in Shunyi district on Jan 23.

Beijing's Longquan Temple's authorities say the holy site provides incense for free so that less joss is burned, and peace and tranquility aren't disrupted by commerce.

Suburban Beijing's Tanzhe Temple, which is one of the city's oldest, also sought police assistance. The temple, which usually receives a few thousand visitors a day, received 19,000 on Jan 23. About 200 policemen helped maintain order.

"We opened two more ticket entrances and temporarily stopped selling tickets when the number of visitors inside reached the capacity of 7,000," Xu Jianhong from the monastery's management office says.

Temples of various religions attract tens of thousands of visitors during the period.

TV station employee Wu He went to Beijing's Baiyunguan Taoist Temple on Jan 23, accompanied by his Buddhist parents.

"It means more to me to be with my parents than to pray on these days," the 24-year-old says.

"It doesn't matter which god we worship, because our aims are the same - to pray for beautiful things. I feel the Lunar New Year atmosphere when I see so many people in the temple. I used to pray for good academic scores, but I value health more since I've started working."

Many believe Buddha will take special care of the first person to burn incense in the Lunar New Year. So, many line up for the opportunity, and some temples sell the slots through auction.

But Longquan Temple's abbot Xue Cheng says Buddha doesn't care who burns the first joss and treats everyone equally. Sincerity is more important to prayers, Xue says.

Yonghegong's former research office director Li Lixiang agrees.

"Most people come here simply to pray for good luck and may not know about Buddhism," the 63-year-old says. "Those who want to be the first to burn incense should maintain a common heart, rather than compete with others.

"The number of people who burn joss sticks rises every year. As society's competition becomes fiercer, people who are under pressure seek tranquility in temples. But one can't be superstitious and assume incense-burning is a panacea."