Outside the door are the bustling fireworks, and inside are the faithful men and women worshiping devoutly. Amid the scent of incense, Mazu enshrined in the Tianhou Palace has been listening to prayers for nearly a thousand years, either praying for a safe voyage or returning home with a full load. She sincerely prays. Mostly related to the sea not far away.
"Wherever there is sea water, there are Chinese people, and where there are Chinese people, there are Mazu." Mazu was originally a fisherman's woman. She was kind-hearted and familiar with the waves of the sea. She saved the villagers many times in storms and was revered by people. After Mazu's death, she was regarded as the patron saint of navigation by the people along the southeastern coast of China. She was also known as the Concubine of Heaven, Queen of Heaven, Holy Mother of Heaven, etc.
During the seven to eight hundred years from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, emperors of the past dynasties canonized Mazu more than 40 times, and the titles were continuously upgraded and increased layer by layer. Mazu has thus become the Poseidon with the most "official announcements". According to statistics from scholars, the titles given to Mazu by emperors in the past dynasties amounted to more than 600 words, setting a record for the highest number of titles given to a Chinese deity.
With the official and folk admiration for Mazu belief in the past dynasties, Tianhou Palace has been repaired and developed, and it still retains the layout characteristics of the front hall and back bedrooms that were formed before the 16th century. The existing building complex faces south and faces north, with an overall axially symmetrical courtyard layout. The building complex covers an area of approximately 6,800 square meters.
As the first check-in point for merchants who came from all over the world to enter Quanzhou City, Quanzhou Tianhou Temple has a particularly different status among the tens of thousands of Mazu temples all over the world. It is considered to be the highest-standard existing at home and abroad. It is also the only Mazu temple in mainland China that has been approved and announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council. It has witnessed the prosperity of overseas trade in Quanzhou Port during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and also confirmed its status as the "No. 1 port in the East" along the Maritime Silk Road. ” historical status.
Editor in charge: [Ren Shuai]