At around 6 o'clock this morning, there were already more than 50 people queuing outside the southwest gate of Yonghe Palace, waiting for it to open. They were constantly rubbing their hands, stamping their feet, and holding under their arms several bundles of incense. Most of the incense-goers were repeatedly doing these actions. After Yonghe Palace opened its doors, the incense-goers rushed to the main hall to burn the first incense of the New Year. Photo by reporter Fuzheng.
Without even drinking a sip of hot laba porridge, he went straight to the incense burner in front of the hall and lit the incense that had been prepared in advance. Accompanied by the morning sunlight, his face was full of sincerity as he silently recited prayers for his family's blessings.
At 9 o'clock in the morning, the gates finally opened. Xiaogao rushed inside, bought his ticket, and quickly headed towards the main hall.
"Being first in line doesn't count; it's about who can be the first to rush in." A remark from one of the incense-goers reminded Xiaogao. He held tightly to the incense in his arms, clutching some loose change in his hand to save time when buying the ticket.
According to Xinhua News Agency (reporter Wang Yan, Yuan Wen), on the early morning of the New Year, incense-goers queued up outside Yonghe Palace for 11 hours overnight just to burn the first incense of the New Year.
Xiaogao arrived at Yonghe Palace at 10 PM last night, standing at the head of the queue. "I want to burn the first incense of the year to pray for my family's blessings," said Xiaogao, his eyes fixed on the door crack while straining his ears to listen to the sounds inside.
The person at the very front of the queue was a young man surnamed Gao. Without wearing a down jacket, his body was frozen stiff, and his speech was slurred.