How many Mazu Tempel are there in China? What's the difference?

The cliff inscription of "Ascending to Heaven Monument" is engraved on a huge stone wall behind the Mazu Tempel Sleeping Hall, and there is a small line next to it: The abbot took a monk and knocked on the original ocean. Thousands of years ago, the "goddess temple" and "human" shapes were just "a few rafters", which were faintly visible on the stone wall. Standing here, looking west, Xianliang Port on the other side is faintly visible. According to legend, Mo Niang ascended to heaven by a nearby "stone drum".

Kaitai Mazu Tempel

Located in Anping Port, Tainan City, it is one of the Mazu Tempel with a long history in Taiwan Province Province. It was built in the 7th year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (1668), and was called Anping Mazu Tempel to welcome the statue of Mazu in Meizhou Island, Fujian Province. 1683, Mazu was declared Tianhou, and Anping Mazu Tempel was changed to Kaitai Tianhou Palace. Now there are many Mazu statues in Mazu Tempel, Taiwan Province, all of which are separated from this temple.

Another Mazu Tempel.

According to the latest data provided by the Mazu Tempel Book of World Records, there are nearly 5,000 Mazu Tempel in the world, with nearly 200 million followers.

Many of these Mazu Tempel are very distinctive, and here are just a few of them.

Tianhou Palace in Quanzhou 1: It is the first Mazu Tempel in China to be listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit, which was founded in the second year of Song Qingyuan (A.D. 1 196). Located in Tianhou Road, Quanzhou City, it covers an area of about 13 mu, with a building area of over 5,000 square meters. In addition to the ancient buildings such as the main hall and the back hall, the temple has also restored the buildings such as the mountain gate, the stage, the bell and drum tower, the east-west corridor, and the dressing room in recent years. It is one of the largest and oldest existing Mazu Tempel, and there is a museum of the history of Fujian-Taiwan relations in the palace with a large collection.

Tianhou Palace in Quanzhou is of great significance to the development and spread of Mazu belief overseas. Historically, due to the continuous immigration and trade activities of Quanzhou people, Mazu belief has spread widely to Chinese mainland, Taiwan Province, Hongkong and Australia. Therefore, Tianhou Palace in Quanzhou still enjoys a high reputation overseas, and many overseas compatriots call it the "Temple of Wenling". Every year, more than 3,000 overseas teams come to visit the pilgrimage.

2. Tianhou Palace in Tianjin: commonly known as "Niangniang Palace", it was built in Dingding, Thailand for three years (A.D. 1326) and has undergone dozens of renovations and reconstructions. It is one of the three largest Tianhou Palace in the world (Taimiao Temple in Meizhou, Fujian, Tianhou Palace in Tianjin and Chaotian Palace in Beigang, Taiwan Province). Located in the west bank of Sanchakou, Haihe River, outside the east gate of the old city of Tianjin, in the middle of Guwen Street, facing east, it covers an area of 5,352 square meters, with a building area of 1 0,734 square meters. From east to west, it consists of theater, banner, mountain gate, memorial arch, front yard, main hall, phoenix hall, sutra depository, Kaiguang Temple, Bell and Drum Tower, Zhangxiange and four affiliated halls.

Tianhou Palace in Tianjin was listed as the key cultural relics protection unit in Tianjin twice on 1954 and 1982. 1985 became the seat of Tianjin Folk Museum as the birthplace of Tianjin folk culture. In addition to preserving the restoration of Tianhou Palace, exhibitions focusing on Tianjin folk customs have been opened one after another. This paper systematically introduces the customs of water transportation, marriage and childbearing, commerce, folk life, folk art, folk beliefs, etc., and builds a 69-meter-long Tianhou Monument Gallery, which depicts a picture of historical customs with great personality and regional culture, and has become a tourist attraction for Chinese and foreign people.

3. Zhijiang Tianhou Palace: It is the largest Mazu Tempel in the inland of China, located in Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan Province. Built in the 13th year of Qing Qianlong (A.D. 1748), it belongs to the provincial cultural relics protection unit in Hunan. The whole of Mazu Tempel is a combination of ancient architecture and relief art, which has high artistic appreciation value and cultural relics protection value. There are 50 reliefs carved on the stone square of Qian Fang Hougong, which are lifelike and exquisite in carving skills, and are known as "the first square in the south of the Yangtze River".

Because/kloc-has not been overhauled for more than 30 years, the wooden columns, transverse purlins and board walls of the wooden structure Tianhou Palace are seriously damaged. Therefore, from 1999, Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County began to carry out overall maintenance. After three years of hard work and millions of yuan, Tianhou Palace was reopened to the public in 2002.

4. Penghu Tianhou Temple: the earliest Mazu Tempel in Taiwan Province Province, which was built in the 20th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1592). Carved beams and painted buildings in the temple are beautifully carved, antique and beautiful. Every year, on March 23rd of the lunar calendar, Mazu's birthday, a large-scale sea trip around Mazu will be held in Penghu Tianhou Temple to pray for good weather and family safety.

In the back hall of the Tianhua Temple in Penghu, there is the earliest stone tablet in Taiwan Province, engraved with the words "Shen Yourong ordered the return of red hair, Wei Fan Malang, etc.". It is said that/kloc-At the beginning of the 7th century, the Dutch used their economic and military strength to occupy Java and set up the East India Company in an attempt to trade with China. However, at that time, the Ming Dynasty imposed a maritime ban, and trade was not allowed unless it was a tributary country. In the thirty-second year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1604), the Dutch prefect Weimarang used the tactics of Pan Xiuzhi, an overseas Chinese in Dani (now Thailand), to write a letter to Ming officials, hoping to allow Dutch trade. As there was no reply, he landed in Penghu on July 12 to find out. Hearing this, officials from the provinces in central Fujian sent Shen Yourong, the official department minister, to see Wei Malang at Mazu Palace (Tianhou Palace) and made a long speech to show his concern. Weimarang knew that there was no hope for trade and no chance for war. He left Peng despondently on June 25th, 65438 10, and wrote a glorious page for the people of China to defeat the enemy without fighting.

5. Miaodao Fairy Shadow Palace: Mazu Tempel, the earliest and most influential building in northern China, was built in the fourth year of Huizong Xuanhe in the Northern Song Dynasty (A.D. 1 122). It was canonized by the emperors of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and was once known as the "No.1 Niangniang Temple in the World", making it famous all over the world. Therefore, the temple island owner slaughtered the Changshan Islands and became an island between the north and the south.

Xianying Palace was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and was restored on 1983 with the attention of relevant central leaders. Located in the northern part of Zhongmiao Island, Changshan Islands, Shandong Province, it is surrounded by mountains from north to south and faces the sea from east to west. The whole building includes the front, middle and back hall and theater, with a length of 166 meters from north to south and a width of 66 meters from east to west, with a total area of 10000 square meters. On the east side of the main building, there is also the first county-level comprehensive marine museum in China, which contains China's shipbuilding history, navigation history, navigation technology history, maritime military history and Zheng He Memorial Hall.

In August, 2003, Xianying Palace held the ceremony of Mazu in Meizhou, Fujian and Mazu in Chaotiangong, Beigang, Taiwan Province, moving to Anfeng. At the same time, the inscription "Divine power is the best in the world" written by Emperor Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty was restored, which added new meaning to the further integration of folk culture between the north and the south and the further development of Mazu culture.

7. The Tin Hau Temple on Weizhou Island in Beihai is an ancient temple built by fishermen in Weizhou Island to exorcise evil spirits and seek peace. It is also called the Temple of Three Old Women. The original temple was built in 1732 (three years after Qianlong) and was submerged by landslides. The existing Sanlao Temple was newly built in recent years. Residents often come here to pray for a sign and worship Buddha, and incense is constantly burning.

8. Tianhou Palace in Macau: It was just completed on June 4, 2003, 10, which lasted two and a half years and cost 200 million patacas. Located on Dieshitang Mountain around Macao, it covers an area of nearly 7,000 square meters and is the largest temple in Macao so far. The whole building is designed and built according to the style of ancient buildings in southern Fujian, with reference to the traditional regulatory layout of Mazu Tempel and Taiwan Province in Fujian. In front of the palace, there are more than 60 meters of stairs, heavy and gorgeous archway doors, altars surrounded by white marble, and main halls, dressing rooms, bell towers and drum towers connected by cloisters. The main hall faces east in the west, with magnificent momentum, carved dragon cornices on the roof and glittering golden glass. The carved beams and painted buildings in the palace are magnificent. The 3-meter-high statue of Mazu, a phoenix crown and a Xiatie, is kind-hearted and dignified.

As the only city named after Mazu in the world, Macau built the first Mazu Tempel (also known as Mage Temple) in Inner Harbor as early as 1488, and it has been flourishing ever since. At the end of last century, a statue of Mazu white marble with a height of 19.99 meters and a weight of more than 500 tons was built in Dieshitang Mountain, Macao. It is said that this is the tallest statue of Empress Mazu in the world at present.

8. Tianfu Palace in Singapore: Located in Chinatown, Chinatown is located in Yayi Street (called Yuanshun Street by Chinese) in the urban area, which was built by Chinese in Singapore. It is one of the oldest temples in Singapore and has been listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit.

According to reports, during the period of 182 1- 1822, Tianfu Palace was just a humble bodhisattva hall. Later, due to the growing incense, it was moved from 1839 to Zhiluo Yayi Street for reconstruction, which was completed in 1842. The granite columns and wooden altars in the palace were shipped from Fujian, China, and the statues were also shipped from China on 1840.

The whole palace is magnificent, and the halls are spacious and elegant. Above the main hall is a Kowloon plaque given by the Emperor Guangxu 1907, which reads "Jing Bo Reflects in the South", and the word frame is surrounded by dragon relief. Another plaque, titled "Brilliant Qingming Festival", was inscribed by Zuo Binglong, the third consul of the Qing government in Singapore. The back hall of the palace is dedicated to siddhattha gotama. Opposite is a sitting statue of Confucius. There are also several stone tablets in the hall, engraved with the names of the people who donated money to build the temple or the names of the ships.