Wu Jiang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wu Jiang, Male, Han, from Dongtou, Zhejiang, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Mazu Memorial Ceremony (Ⅹ-36). The tradition is documented in Dongtou, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Mazu Memorial Ceremony in Dongtou, Zhejiang: In Dongtou, the sacrificial dates are tied to the opening and closing of the fishing seasons: a shrine is set up before the season opens, and worship is offered after it closes, while the two great sacrificial days — the 23rd of the third lunar month and the 9th of the ninth lunar month — are held separately by the temples across the county, with the faithful spread over all ninety-three fishing villages. The scattering of the islands makes the distribution of Mazu temples remarkably even: the six townships have eleven Mazu palaces between them, plus another eleven temples where Mazu is jointly enshrined with the Lady Chen Fourteen — one temple on average every 4.5 square kilometers. Taiwanese fishing boats putting in for resupply invariably come to the temple front to worship and present silk banners; this is the most frequent external exchange within this pattern. The Dongsha Mazu Palace was built during the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty; it is the largest and most completely built Mazu temple still extant in Zhejiang Province, with a history of nearly 300 years, and it is the only provincial-level cultural relics protection unit among Zhejiang's Mazu temples.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han, born in June 1936, a native of Dongtou County, Zhejiang Province. Born into a family of fishermen, he absorbed the tradition from early childhood and knows the Mazu memorial ceremony by heart. The Mazu temple in his village of Dongsha is the most architecturally complete and best preserved Mazu temple along the Zhejiang coast, and the Mazu memorial ceremony there has flourished without interruption. He took an active part in the Mazu memorial ceremony, and after coming home from fishing in 1998 he devoted himself wholeheartedly to activities at the Dongsha Mazu Temple; he is now its chief officiant. He presides over the Mazu memorial ceremony with great dedication and enjoys considerable prestige. In 2011 he also presided over the revival of the "welcoming the fire tripod" custom, which won unanimous praise. Within the documented technical tradition of Mazu Memorial Ceremony in Dongtou, Zhejiang: Dongtou County lies outside the mouth of the Oujiang River in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province; it consists of 103 islands with a land area of 100.3 square kilometers, borders Fujian to the south, and its people make their living mainly from fishing. These special environmental conditions and geographical position have made the local people extremely devout believers in Mazu. In the late Ming and early Qing, fishermen from Putian, Fujian, came to fish in the waters off Dongtou and brought with them the Mazu belief and customs. Whenever Dongtou fishermen build a new boat, they set up a shrine in the middle cabin to house and worship Mazu. At the start and end of each fishing season, they go to the Mazu temples to offer worship. On the 23rd day of the third lunar month and the 9th day of the ninth lunar month each year, every Mazu temple holds solemn sacrificial rites, including worship, "making offerings," Mazu processions, and folk-cultural activities such as "welcoming the fire tripod" and opera performances; the participating faithful spread across all 93 fishing villages of the county, making this the grandest of the folk-belief activities of the Dongtou fishing grounds. Dongtou is 138 nautical miles from Taiwan, reachable by motorboat in just eight hours; the Dongtou fishing ground is the second largest in Zhejiang. Taiwanese fishermen who come to Dongtou to fish and resupply during the fishing season invariably visit the Mazu temples to worship and present silk banners, so exchanges are very frequent. 1. The image of Mazu has become an embodiment of kindness, wisdom, and righteousness in people's minds. It has practical significance for elevating people's character, purifying social morality, and building a harmonious society. 2. Mazu culture has spread throughout the world and serves as an obvious cultural bond, playing an important role in foreign cultural exchange and in the recognition of one's ancestral roots. 3. Mazu belief is an important bridge and tie in cross-strait relations and a platform for cultural blending between the mainland and Taiwan, and is of positive significance for promoting national reunification. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The shrine built in a new boat's cabin": Every new boat receives a shrine to Mazu in its middle cabin, pinning the belief onto the tool of production before it ever sails. "The two great festivals of the year": The twenty-third of the third month and the ninth of the ninth divide the fishing year into two halves that faith and work share. "Offering the meal and the procession": Besides worship the faithful prepare offerings and carry the image in procession along the lanes, blurring shrine and household for a day. "Welcoming the fire cauldron": The fire cauldron, lifted out of the flames and carried round the ground, is the most explosive act of the festival, restored in 2011.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of the Mazu Memorial Ceremony (Dongtou Mazu Memorial Ceremony), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He has trained a group of transmitters of Mazu belief practices and enjoys high standing in the locality.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Wu Jiang · National Representative Bearer Archive