Temple cancels festival activity following Shanghai stampede

A 2013 file photo shows tourists flooding the Hangzhou Lingyin Temple during the Laba Festival. [Photo/Xinhua]

A historic temple in east China has scrapped its tradition of offering porridge to celebrate the Laba Festival following a fatal New Year's Eve stampede in Shanghai that left 36 people dead.

The 1,700-year-old Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, has canceled an annual event for the Laba Festival on Tuesday out of safety concerns, according to the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs.

"Laba" literally means the eighth day of the 12th lunar month. The Laba Festival is considered a prelude to the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb 19 this year.

The Laba Festival is an important holiday in Buddhism. Many temples traditionally offer porridge to the public to commemorate the Buddha and deliver his blessings to both believers and non-believers.

Despite the cancellation, the temple will deliver some 300,000 bowls of Laba porridge to schools, children's welfare centers and nursing homes in Hangzhou. A prayer ceremony will be held at the temple on Tuesday morning, though only 800 people will be allowed to attend, according to the bureau.

Lingyin Temple receives a daily average of 10,000 visitors and believers, and the number can reach even higher during major holidays.

China has canceled a series of large-scale public events following the Shanghai stampede, leading to questions about the proper response to the tragedy.

Earlier this month, Shanghai canceled the Lantern Festival light show at Yuyuan Garden in its downtown area. The annual event has been held for 20 years.

The cancelation of many public events has caused concern. A commentary by the China Tourism News newspaper Friday compared this to stop eating for fear of being choked and stressed that providing public security service is a responsibility of the government that should not be dogdged.

Tens of thousands of people assembled on Shanghai's historic riverfront walk in the Pudong financial area to ring in the New Year. Most of those that lost their lives in the stampede were young people.