Shanghai's temples set limit in visitors to preclude any disaster associated with mass gatherings. (Photo : Wikipedia)
Temples in Shanghai have decided to set a "manageable" limit on the number of visitors during the eve of the Lunar New Year to avoid any untoward incidents during the holidays.
According to the Shanghai Daily, the Jing'an Temple in the district of Jing'an has set a maximum of 3,000 visitors to be allowed entry during the evening of Feb. 18, the day before the onset of the Chinese New Year.
This was based on the average number of tickets sold during the past years which was recorded at 5,000 to 6,000 people.
This year, the selling of tickets would be stopped the moment it reaches the allowable 3,000.
Aside from this, managers of the temple have also decided to scrap the distribution of admission vouchers to allow further ease in the management of the crowd.
A similar change in policy was made at the Jade Buddha Temple, another temple in Jing'an, where the limit of visitors was set at a maximum of 4,000 people on the Lunar New Year's eve.
The admission ticket price would also be escalated by 150 percent in order to discourage people to visit the temple during the holiday where the number of templegoers is at its peak.
This would also be applied to the Longhua Temple in Xuhui District, where the policy would take effect between 9 p.m. on Feb. 18 to 3 a.m. on Feb. 19.
These precautions, like others, have been made in the wake of the tragic New Year's celebration upon the entry of the year 2015 where 36 people died and 49 others were injured during a stampede incident at midnight of Dec. 31, 2014.
Before the stampede that occurred near the Chen Yi Square on the iconic riverfront promenade in Shanghai, more popularly known as the Bund, around 300,000 people gathered together to celebrate the coming of the new year.
According to reports, the incident began when people were trying to reach the Bund while others were going the other way.
Because of the tight space, some of the people--panicked and confused--fell from the stairway leading to the viewing platform that overlooks the river, leaving nearly 100 casualties.
