The culture of Mazu has aroused extensive interest and great attention from Chinese and foreign scholars and is now an integral part of the Chinese nation and its brilliant civilization.

 The Story of Mazu

Over 1,000 years ago, a beautiful young girl by the name of Mazu (original name was Lin Mo) was born at the Xianliang Port of Meizhou Bay in Putian, East China's Fujian Province. Clever, brave and kindhearted, Mazu could forecast the weather and offered medical services to fellow islanders. With her innate weather-forecasting ability, Mazu saved the lives of many fishermen from the menacing typhoons. Since Mazu encouraged the people to conquer nature and defeat evil, she was much loved and esteemed by the locals.

Touched by her kindness and good deeds, the townspeople greatly respected her and eventually deified her as the daughter of the dragon, the Goddess of the Sea and the Holy Mother who could bring them blessings. Unfortunately, Mazu died at the young age of 28. As legend goes, Mazu ascended to heaven and became immortal at Meizhou Bay, located opposite to Xianliang Port.

Locals built a temple at Meizhou Island soon after her death to offer sacrifices. As time went by, thousands of similar temples were built all over the world where there were Chinese communities.

Mazu is none other than the world-renowned Goddess of the Sea and the protectress of the common people.

 The Spread of Mazu

In time, the respect for Mazu turned into a widespread belief. Following the footsteps of sea merchants and overseas Chinese, Mazu went out of Putian, out of Fujian and out of China, appearing in many corners of the world -- Asia, America, Australia and Europe. Consequently, over 1,500 Mazu temples are found all over the world where Mazu from Meizhou is consecrated. The belief in Mazu has become a sort of transnational folk belief with more than 100 million worshippers.

According to statistics, around two-thirds of the population in Taiwan worship Mazu, and more than 500 Mazu temples are scattered throughout the island. In the wake of improving relations between both sides of the Straits, tens of thousands of Taiwan compatriots swarmed to the Meizhou Island to dedicate their piety at Mazu temples.

On her birthday, which falls on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, and the anniversary of her death on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, thousands of pilgrims, many of them from Taiwan, come to pay homage to the goddess at the Temple of Mazu. Chinese traveling by boat often bring her statue on the journey.

In Macao, scholars believe that fishermen built the Temple of A-Ma centuries ago in honor of the Goddess A-Ma (Goddess Mazu), the protectress of seafarers and fishermen.

 The Temple of Mazu

The temple on Meizhou Island is the most important temple for Mazu worshippers because of its connection with her life and because it is on this spot where she was deified. The largest Mazu temple in the world is in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province in South China. Tianhou Temple in Taiwan was built in 1685; Taiwan has 300-400 temples dedicated to Mazu - at least one in every county. Tianjin municipality in China, boasts the world's third-largest Mazu temple.

The Portuguese called the area "A-ma-gao" or "Bay of A-Ma," which was eventually shortened to the present Macao. In Taiwan, at least 900 Mazu temples have reportedly been built and worshipped regularly over the past few centuries.

Mazu shrines and temples date back to at least 1840 in Singapore in the Boat Quay area. In Kuantan, Malaysia, the Mazu temple was built in 1904. The Tianhou Temple in San Francisco's Chinatown is among that city's premier Chinese temples.

Today, achievements in research on the Mazu culture have become valuable materials for the study of the history of navigation, science, overseas Chinese, the development of off-shore islands and economic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries, as well as the history of folklore and ancient China's religion.

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