Praying for Blessings During the New Year Is a Tradition — When Facing Hardship, Young People Turn First to “Seeking the Divine”

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, long lines formed overnight at Beijing’s Yonghe Temple for incense offerings. Increasing numbers of young people are visiting temples. — Video screenshot

[People News] Every Lunar New Year, people across mainland China flock to major temples to worship and pray for blessings, hoping that the coming year will bring smooth sailing, peace, and good fortune. Such scenes leave the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) discouraged, because it clearly realizes that its brainwashing of the public has failed. No matter how much the CCP promotes atheism and evolution, when ordinary people have wishes or troubles, they still run to temples or churches to pray to gods and Buddhas in heaven. No matter how much the CCP praises itself as “great, glorious, and correct” or as a “great savior,” people know in their hearts that the true beings who can relieve suffering are the divine. The Communist Party, on the other hand, has brought enormous disasters upon the Chinese nation.

An Important New Year Activity: Worshiping and Praying for Blessings

Traditional Chinese New Year activities begin in the twelfth lunar month, with worship and prayer as key components.

On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, families hold a “Sending Off the Gods” ceremony, offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God. On that day, the Kitchen God is believed to ascend to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor on the household’s deeds over the past year. To ensure that he speaks favorably on their behalf, families prepare offerings mainly consisting of sweets and candies.

On New Year’s Eve, elders lead younger generations in worshiping deities and ancestors. In some regions, it is customary to worship the Heavenly Emperor at midnight.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people begin the year by paying respects to Buddhas. Sunrise is considered an auspicious time to worship at temples or at home.

The fourth day of the Lunar New Year is the day to welcome the gods back to earth. The Year God (Tai Sui) and other deities are believed to return to the human world on this day, commonly known as “Welcoming the Gods Day.”

The fifth day is dedicated to welcoming the God of Wealth, also known as the Five-Way God (Household God, Kitchen God, Earth God, Door God, and Travel God). The “five ways” refer to east, west, south, north, and center, symbolizing wealth coming from all directions. Families prepare offerings and set off firecrackers to show respect and welcome the God of Wealth, praying for prosperity in the new year.

The sixth day is for cleaning and “sending away poverty.” Areas not cleaned during the New Year are tidied up on this day. Trash accumulated during the holiday is removed, symbolizing the removal of poverty and bad luck, welcoming good fortune.

The seventh day is called “Human Day” in some regions. Folklore says that when the goddess Nüwa created the world, she made chickens, dogs, pigs, sheep, cattle, and horses on the first six days, and humans on the seventh day. Therefore, the seventh day is considered humanity’s birthday.

The ninth day is “Heavenly Emperor’s Birthday,” marking the Jade Emperor’s birthday and a grand day of worship.

Increasing Numbers of People Burning Incense at Temples

During the New Year, temples nationwide become busy welcoming large numbers of worshippers. More and more people visit temples during holidays, including many young people, who mainly pray for smooth job prospects after graduation.

A song that went viral for a time, titled “I Kneel Before the God of Wealth and Refuse to Get Up,” includes lyrics such as: “Perhaps only the temple understands my current suffering. Rather than believing in hard work, I might as well believe in the Buddha.” “Between going to work and striving upward, I choose to lie flat; between systems and connections, I choose a Buddhist mindset; from now on I kneel before the God of Wealth and refuse to get up…” These lyrics reflect how many young people in China, facing difficulties in finding work and lacking stability in life, turn to praying to gods and Buddhas.

From the night of February 20 (the fourth day) to February 21 (the fifth day), Shanghai’s Temple of the God of Wealth remained open all night, with a steady stream of incense offerings.

How crowded were God of Wealth temples elsewhere on the fifth day? A netizen posted a video showing that at the Shanghai God of Wealth Temple in Pudong, the incense was so abundant that “the burner caught fire,” prompting firefighters to use water hoses on site.

On February 21, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, at Lingshun Temple on North Peak in Hangzhou, large numbers of residents and tourists climbed the mountain overnight starting at dawn. The walkway was packed with people; many were stuck halfway up the mountain, unable to move. At the temple on the summit, crowds were shoulder to shoulder, with lines stretching beyond sight.

In recent years, Hangzhou has repeatedly seen “Lingyin Temple packed with crowds on the first day of the Lunar New Year,” as people rush to burn the “first incense” and pray for good fortune.

In Beijing, “Yonghe Temple is also filled with visitors.” Beijing media previously reported that in 2024 Yonghe Temple implemented an online reservation system, receiving 60,000 visitors per day on the first and fifteenth days of the Lunar New Year, and 40,000 on other days. A week before the New Year, tickets for the first through fifth days had already sold out.

In Beijing, due to the large numbers of people visiting temples for blessings, online guides titled “Where Should You Burn the First Incense of the New Year? Eight Must-Visit Temples in Beijing for Blessings” have circulated widely.

For decades, the CCP has used every propaganda tool to promote “atheism,” labeling incense burning and deity worship as “feudal superstition,” attempting to sever Chinese people’s reverence for heaven and belief in gods and Buddhas. Yet faith in the divine is an innate conviction that no force can cut off. Especially in times of hardship, many people first think of “May the Buddha bless me” or “May the Bodhisattva protect me.” No matter how fervently the Communist Party claims to be the “great savior,” it can never replace the place of gods and Buddhas in people’s hearts. △