Contemporary Mazu Belief: Cultural Interactions and Nation Identification

Abstract

This article divides the historical survey of Mazu beliefs into two phases. The formal one is here delineated as “past”, and the latter one is phrased as “present”. The dividing crest lies in the late 1980s. Mazu beliefs is a cluster of folk belief mostly located in the offshore districts of China that stems from more than a thousand years ago in Song Dynasty (960—1279A.D), China. Originally, the image of Mazu was allegedly derived from an ordinary fisherwoman called LinMo who lived in the nowadays offshore area of Putian City, Fujian Province. Her lifetime in local community was narrated as a life of benevolent and gracious that she had helped villagers avoid evil spirits and invoked blessings from different magical existence with her witchcraft.