Qiangtouxiang, competing for the first incense, is the practice of placing the first stick in a temple's main censer at the turn of the lunar year, which is held to carry disproportionate blessing for the year ahead. Major temples in Taiwan and mainland China fill hours in advance, gates are opened at a signal at midnight, and the resulting surge has to be managed by police and stewards; injuries have occurred. Some temples have responded by ballot, by ticketing, or by having the abbot place the first stick to defuse the competition. It is a striking case because it makes explicit something usually left implicit — that in this system religious benefit can be scarce, first-come, and directly contested, which sits oddly with the Daodejing's advice about not contending and troubles nobody at all.