A photo posted on May 25, 2014 shows a little boy dressed as a monk standing in a temple in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian province. (Photo:/China.com.cn)
(ECNS) -- Residents in southwestern Chengdu have rushed to register their children for an event organized by a local temple, West China Metropolis Daily reported.
The city's ancient Daci Temple is recruiting boys from 2 to 7 years old as its little acolytes. Boys will have a chance to wear tailor-made monk robes and have their photos taken, said a working staff member.
More than 60 boys have applied to join the activity, with the temple to select some from these in October.
On the Internet, photos of a little Thai acolyte slumbering in his robe caught the attention of many young mothers. Liu Jing, from Chengdu, capital of Sichuang Province, said she would like to dress her 3-year-old boy in a similar way.
The free activity offered by Daci Temple "is a blessing", she added.
Sending boys to the temple as acolytes and getting them a religious name are old traditions in China. It symbolically entrusts a child to Buddhism, and establishes a kinship between religious and civil life to ensure health and happiness.
