On January 29, two Buddhist temples in Beijing held an auction
for the rights to be the first to light joss sticks and ring a
temple bell on February 9, the first day of the Chinese lunar
year.
The Administrative Office of Jietai and Tanzhe Temples said the
158,000 yuan (US$19,100) raised will be used for renovation
work.
The sale started at 10:30 AM with the auctioneer announcing that
there would be no reserve price.
Within minutes, offers for the right to toll the bell at Jietai
had reached 30,000 yuan (US$3,600) and, after a brief moment of
stunned murmuring, continued to climb to a closing price of 50,000
yuan (US$6,000).
Lighting the first joss stick at Jietai went for 42,000 yuan
(US$5,000), but both were topped by the privilege to offer the
first joss stick at Tanzhe; after a frenzied round of bidding, one
private buyer paid 66,000 yuan (US$8,000). He kept a low profile
and left the scene immediately without talking to reporters.
Tanzhe Temple is the largest and oldest royal temple in the
capital. It is thought to have been built during the Jin Dynasty
(AD 265-420), and its age is popularized in the proverb, "Before
the founding of Youzhou (as Beijing was known AD 916-1125), there
was already Tanzhe."
The deputy head of the temples' administration office said that
renovations would focus on Tanzhe's Sakyamuni Hall. He added that
such work is usually expensive, for example it cost them 250,000
yuan (US$30,000) to revitalize five ancient trees in 2003.
It is traditional to offer joss sticks or to ring temple bells
to make wishes and bring luck, and it is believed to be especially
auspicious when done at the beginning of the Chinese lunar
year.???
(China.org.cn by Wind Gu February 2, 2005)