In some stores in the northern city of Shijiazhuang, Laba porridge with different functions, including hemopoietic and other beneficial effects, have been developed.

In Shanghai, some Chinese herbal medicine stores are promoting new products for the Laba Festival and providing prescriptions for Laba porridge.

The Laba Festival is a significant occasion in Buddhism. Many temples have the tradition of offering porridge to the public to commemorate Buddha and deliver his blessings to both believers and non-believers.

Legend has it that when Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, fell unconscious from hunger and exhaustion during his journey to find virtue, he was saved by a passing shepherdess who fed him porridge.

The gesture saved Sakyamuni who went on to become Buddha on the eighth day of the 12th lunar month. To commemorate the sufferings of Sakyamuni, Buddhist followers eat porridge on the day.

"Years ago, the Laba porridge was only served to the poor to show the kindness of Buddhism," 70-year-old Guo Qingsheng said while waiting for monks to deliver porridge at the Yonghe Lama Temple in Beijing.

"Now that our life has become better, offering porridge is not to help the poor, but to offer blessings," he said.