Mazu temples around the world

Mazu, also known as the heavenly Virgin, the diva, the Heavenly Concubine, the Poseidon Empress, the Meizhou Empress, and so on. Formerly surnamed Lin, Song Jianlong was born in the first year of Song Jianlong (March 23 of the lunar calendar 960 AD) in Shanglin Village, Meizhou Island (Island), Putian, Fujian (today's imperial concubine's hometown ruins park). It was born on the ninth day of September in Song Yongxi's fourth year (987 AD). Mazu is a Poseidon belief centered on the southeast coast of China, which evolved from the belief of witchcraft in Fujian and Vietnam, and absorbed other folk beliefs in the process of development. With the expansion of influence and the proposal and advocacy of local scholars and officials, the Northern Song Dynasty began to be deified, known as Mazu (a local title for female ancestors), and was worshipped by people to build temples. Gaozong of the Song Dynasty was made a lady of Ling Hui and became a god recognized by the imperial court. Mazu has been awarded 36 times by 22 emperors in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. The title ranges from his wife to the imperial concubine, the heavenly imperial concubine, the diva and even the heavenly virgin. It is the figure with the largest number of titles (36) and the longest number of words (64 words) in Chinese history. Finally, he gradually stood out from many sea gods and became the representative of Chinese marine culture. With the expansion of Mazu's influence, Mazu belief spread from Fujian to Zhejiang, Guangdong, Taiwan, Ryukyu, Japan, Southeast Asia (such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia) and other places. Beijing, Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong and Macao and other coastal areas have Tian Hou Temple or Mazu Temple. China's inland provinces such as Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and Anhui are also distributed. As of March 2024, there are tens of thousands of Mazu temples and cultural institutions in 50 countries and regions around the world, with nearly 300 million believers. On September 30, 2009, under the initiative of the board of directors of Mazu Temple in Meizhou and with the help of Mazu temples at home and abroad, "Mazu belief and Custom" was included in the representative list of intangible cultural heritage of mankind by UNESCO and became the first world intangible cultural heritage of faith and custom in China.