What is Meizhou Island that 3 million Mazu believers around the world yearn for? Not only legends, but also beautiful scenery.
In the previous article, Mazu in Langong, Dajia Town, was announced on the podium, and we must take you to the highest temple of Mazu-Meizhou Island in Putian, Fujian. This is the holy land that 3 million Mazu believers around the world yearn for, and the island where the sea god Mazu was born.
please see the video version of this article: China's Meizhou Island in Putian, Fujian Province recorded by Liu Junyan's aerial photography
The area of Meizhou Island is not very large, only 14.35 square kilometers, which is three and a half times the area of Diaoyu Island. Because the island is long and narrow in the north and south, shaped like a woman's carefully outlined arch eyebrows, it was named after it with the word "Mae". The word Mae is not very commonly used in modern times. When we encounter this word, we can only think of Mekong River and Meizhou Island, and the ancients often used this word when describing scenery.
Mae is the water's edge, and it is the side of a mountain. The cliff near the water is also called "Kui". In one word, the majestic mountains and rivers will be outlined incisively and vividly, which is convincing! However, if the ancients had an eye for heaven, they would not describe this island with their eyebrows in a perfunctory way.
This island is clearly like a unicorn with a dragon's head and a horse's body, with its head pointing to the tip of Hushi Peninsula, and it looks like it needs to be fed. On this slender body, the limbs and tail are clearly visible, and there are many places worth exploring.
If you want to go to the island from downtown Putian, you can take bus No.363 to Meizhou Island Ferry Station. The ferry routes here are divided into islanders and tourists. Tourists take a double-decker passenger ferry, which usually takes ten minutes. When I went there, I made a regrettable mistake. I didn't notice that there was a discount for free tickets to the island after 17 o'clock, so I just bought three tickets online step by step. As a result, when I went there, I didn't need it at all ...
The entrance to the island is in the part of the faucet, which is also the location of Mazu Tempel. That is to say, the accommodation and meals on such a small piece are sold at the price of the scenic spot. If you want to eat at the market with the islanders, the further you go, the more cost-effective, but the dishes and dining environment are not as luxurious as the entrance to the island. If it weren't for the islanders, no one would have reached the tail of the island.
However, according to the current situation, Meizhou Island is developing the tourism resources of the whole island. They hope that tourists will not only focus on the goose tail mountain where Mazu statue is located, but also step into the life circle of fishermen. For example, a golden statue of Mazu in youth was newly built one kilometer away from Ewei Mountain. In the dark night, Lin Mo held a bright lamp in his right hand, anxiously waiting for the people who drove the sea to return safely.
Please see the video version of this article: Liu Junyan's aerial record of Meizhou Island in Putian, Fujian, China
Seeing this real historical moment, I seem to have followed the light of Mazu back to a thousand years ago. In the first year of Song Jianlong (AD 96), on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, Mazu's mother had been pregnant for 14 months. It was dark in the evening, and suddenly a meteor fell from the sky until the Lins reflected the red light on the island. Wang gave birth to a daughter at this time, and the strange fragrance in the house lasted for a long time.
I didn't hear the baby girl crying until the full moon. Seeing that this daughter is innocent and lovely, clever and sensible, the Lins named her Lin Mo, and others affectionately called her Mo Niang. Lin Mo was like a boy since he was a child. He was talented and courageous. At the age of five, he patrolled the sea with his father. At the age of eight, he entered the school and never forgets anything.
When I was thirteen years old, I was playing with my sisters at the well. Suddenly, I saw an immortal holding a pair of bronze charms going up from Ran Ran at the bottom of the well. The immortal gave the bronze charms in his hand to Lin Mo, and taught her the spells of predicting the Oracle, eliminating diseases and plagues, and calling for rain. Since then, Lin Mo Niang has used these learned immortal skills to protect the fishermen on the island from shipwrecks.
However, people around her don't understand and cooperate with Mo Niang's behavior, which has become the biggest obstacle for Mo Niang to save lives. Legend has it that one day, Mo Niang's father and brother sailed out to sea, and she and her mother were weaving at home. Suddenly Mo Niang seemed to foresee something. She held the loom firmly with one hand and the loom tightly with the other, and lay pale on the loom, with drops of sweat dripping down.
when mother saw this, she woke up Mo Niang with a push. Unexpectedly, Mo Niang who woke up burst into tears. She described what she had just felt to her mother: My father and brother who went fishing in the sea were hit by a typhoon, and my father is now out of danger safely, but my brother has been caught in the waves and there is no hope of survival.
After hearing this, Mo Niang's mother blamed Mo Niang for saying something unlucky. Unexpectedly, Mo Niang was right, and only her father came back this time. Before she recovered from her grief, Mo Niang's father described: "At that time, when the ship was about to capsize, the Buddha had a force to seize the rudder of her father and brother to help them get out of danger."
It turned out that while Mo Niang was at sea to help her father and brother get out of danger, her mother woke her up, which led to her clutching her brother's rudder and her driving. Mo Niang felt deeply remorse and decided to go out to sea immediately to look for her brother's body.
At this time, the typhoon still didn't stop. When the villagers saw that Mo Niang was eager to find her brother, they had to let her go to sea and paddle the stern to look for it with her.
When the ship was in the sea, the aquarium in the sea found the body of Mo Niang's brother and lifted it to the surface. The villagers who didn't believe in Mo Niang's magical power saw this situation with their own eyes and were stunned. Since then, all fishermen in Meizhou have respected Mo Niang as a "goddess". In addition, there are many, many folklores telling stories about Mazu's miraculous display, subduing ghosts, solving problems for villagers and helping fishermen save the day.
Mazu belief originated from Meizhou, which was popular in the southeast coast of China at first. Until the Ming dynasty, with the expansion of the sphere of influence of coastal fishermen and merchant ships, they were gradually expanding overseas. Mazu's belief spread eastward to Japan and southward to various countries along the coast of Southeast Asia. In addition to Asia, Mazu also traveled across the ocean with overseas Chinese to America, Europe and other places. However, the most densely distributed area of Mazu belief is Taiwan Province Province in China.
Among the thousands of Mazu Tempel in Taiwan Province Island, Beigang Chaotian Palace in Yunlin County is regarded as the earliest Fenling Palace Temple in Mazu. Equally famous are the Lan Palace in Dajia Town in Taichung City and Guandu Temple in Beitou, Taipei, etc ...
Please see the video version of this article: Liu Junyan recorded Meizhou Island in Putian, Fujian Province in China by aerial photography
But no matter how they fight, they can't shake the position of Mazu Temple in Meizhou. No matter how gorgeous the Mazu statue in the temple is, it is eclipsed by the 14.35-meter-high Mazu granite stone carving at the top of Goose Tail Mountain (similar to the island area). This stone carving was completed and unveiled on March 23, 1991, the birthday of Mazu. Carved from 365 pieces of granite, it means that under the blessing of Mazu, all the people in the world will be lucky and safe every day for 365 days a year.
There are 323 stone steps from the mountain gate to the Ascending Tower, indicating that Mazu was born on the 23rd day of the third lunar month. There are 99 stone steps from Tianlou to Mazu stone statue, which tells that Mazu's last rescue at the age of 28 was on the ninth day of September (the date of his death).
She faces the Taiwan Province Strait, wearing a tiara and a garb, holding jade in her hand, graceful and dignified. Pay tribute to the compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. If you go to Meizhou Island and hear tourists speaking with Taiwanese accent. There is no doubt that they made a special trip from Taiwan Province to make a pilgrimage here.
If the statue of Mazu, which is more than ten meters high, is not enough to express the respect and love of the believers for Mazu, you might as well go to the temple below and pay a visit to this statue of Mazu, which is 3.23 meters high and weighs 323 kilograms. The total cost of this pure gold Mazu statue covered in a protective cover is as high as 16.86 million yuan, which was built by casting experts on both sides of the Taiwan Strait in 278 working days. It was installed here on April 11, 214, and the opening ceremony was held as a treasure of the town temple for believers to worship forever.
On the 9.5-kilometer-long Meizhou Island, single-family houses are densely and orderly distributed along the highway and coast. If you look down from the air, you will have the illusion of coming to a foreign country. Since there is no bridge between the two sides of the strait, passenger and freight transport all depend on ferries.
With this limited transport capacity, some residents who have lived on the island all the year round have already moved to the inland where life is more convenient. Many of the single-family houses they left behind were bought by restaurants, homestays and people who want to feel the seaside life, and they will surely sell at a good price.
you must feel very lonely after listening to such a life, right? But don't worry, apart from fishing and farming, the local people will benefit from the benefits of tourism both economically and spiritually. Every year, millions of tourists visit the island and have more or less intersection with the villagers. Especially in the grand ceremony of Mazu's birthday or the tourist season such as Golden Week, the streets and alleys here will be crowded, and you may miss the quiet life day after day.