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)