Buddhist temple in Wuhan, Hubei province, is encouraging people to send text messages rather than burn incense to say their prayers. The goal of this eco-friendly initiative is to reduce the size of crowds gathering during peak seasons, like the Spring Festival.
The scheme was developed in cooperation with the Hubei branch of China Mobile, and costs 3 or 10 yuan. Short messages with eight or fewer characters cost 3 yuan, while longer ones of up to 20 characters cost 10 yuan. In comparison, regular SMS cost no more than 0.15 yuan.
Sender writes the text of the blessing along with a mobile phone number of the receiver, while China Mobile on its end forwards it (blessing) to the receiver. Moreover, the messages are shown on an LED board at the southwest corner of the temple from 8 am to 5 pm, while monks later chant prayers for both senders and receivers.
Sounds kinda crazy, but people love it, with some 30,000 users already trying the service out. In order to join this “trend,” it is required that sender has a China Mobile phone number in Hubei province…
[Via: textually]