Mazu Memorial Ceremony

01 · Historical Records

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 · Core Techniques & Process

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.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

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.

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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present, the county's six townships have built eleven "Mazu Palaces," and there are another eleven temples where Mazu and the Lady Chen Fourteen are jointly worshipped — on average one Mazu temple every 4.5 square kilometers. The main values and influence of the "Mazu belief and customs" are expressed as follows: Wu Jiang (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of the Han nationality, born in June 1936, a native of Dongtou County, Zhejiang Province. Born into a family of fishermen, he absorbed the tradition from childhood and knows the Mazu festival thoroughly by heart. The Mazu Palace of Dongsha Village, where he lives, is the most completely built and best-preserved Mazu palace on the Zhejiang coast, and the Mazu festival there has flourished without interruption. He has actively taken part in the Mazu festival; after giving up fishing and staying at home in 1998, he has devoted himself entirely to the activities of the Dongsha Mazu Palace, and is now its chief steward. He presides over the Mazu festival with complete dedication and enjoys considerable prestige. In 2011 he also took the lead in reviving the "welcoming the fire tripod" folk custom, which was universally well received. He is a representative inheritor of the Mazu Festival (Dongtou Mazu Festival), a project of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He has trained a group of inheritors of Mazu belief activities and enjoys considerable local renown.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Lin Jinbang 04-1962
• Ma Zhaosheng 05-2983
• Wu Jiang 05-2984
• Chen Jianquan 05-2985
• Li Qingxiang

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Mazu Memorial Ceremony (Dongtou, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wu Jiang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗