Qin Ming is determined to wake up early and head for Beijing's Yonghegong Lama Temple on Saturday, hoping to get a taste of the Laba porridge being served to visitors to mark the eighth day of the 12th lunar month.

All Qin wants is for the global financial crisis to end, and he believes a helping of the special porridge can help.

"I have heard that the Laba porridge served in Yonghegong can bring you good luck," the financial analyst said.

"Due to the global recession, my work is really suffering. Hopefully, after tasting the porridge things will become smoother," he said.

Chinese folk tradition has it that the Laba porridge, traditionally made with beans and rice, helped the Buddha attain enlightenment, and has the power to change your stars in the New Year.

About 1 ton of food materials and 40 huge pots of Laba porridge, complete with nuts and dry fruits, have been prepared to distribute among visitors on Saturday, Li Lixiang, director of the research center of the Lama Temple, said on Friday.

"We will begin offering the porridge at 9 am and expect to run out before 11 am," Li told China Daily.

Cooking porridge on Laba, the eighth day of the 12th lunar month, is an age-old Chinese folk tradition to pray for good fortune in the New Year.

The tradition later combined with a Buddhist legend that a starving Sakyamuni fell unconscious during his quest for enlightenment and was saved by consuming a bowl of porridge made with beans and rice.

He managed to continue his journey and achieved his dream of full enlightenment on that day, becoming Buddha.

Ever since then, monks and lamas have prepared rice porridge on the eve, and held a ceremony the following day, filled with the chant of sutras, as a sign of offering to the Buddha.

"This year, we have prepared 28 kinds of ingredients for the porridge, including rice, red beans, dried lotus seeds, and dates. The quantity is more than last year, but I still cannot guarantee every one will manage to get a taste," Li said.

Every year, thousands of people queue up outside the temple for the porridge, he said. Last year, the temple distributed more than 4,000 small bowls of the delicacy.

Li said a large majority of people who queue up are like Qin, hoping to be blessed with fortune in the New Year.

"The others just taste it for fun, to remember their childhood days," he said.

As a former royal temple, Yonghegong Lama Temple started serving the Laba porridge ever since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), but mainly to the nobles.

"We had stopped serving the porridge for several years due to the tight budget. But we started again in 1998, thanks to the donations made by Buddhists and other kind people," Li said.

This year, more than 50 people, including sports stars like gymnast Li Ning and table tennis player Deng Yaping, donated money and food material.

Officials at the Guanghua Temple, situated in Houhai, said they would also offer Laba porridge on Saturday. Last year, some 3,000 people polished off the porridge within three hours, an official said.

(China Daily January 3, 2009)