Heimian Mazu
1 media/MazuinPalanquin_thumb.jpeg 2020-07-24T10:25:17-04:00 Evan Dawley 7a40080bd5bb656cee837d5befaa3ea8e7a2ac44 35 12 The Heimian--or "black-faced"--Mazu is one of the manifestations of this important deity. It is the one enshrined at the Qing'an Temple in Jilong. This photograph was taken by the author during the Mazu Festival in Jilong in 2004. Source: Photo by author. plain 2021-06-18T20:15:18-04:00 Photo by author. 2004 Evan N. Dawley Used with permission. Evan N. Dawley SG-0010 Photograph Kate McDonald 306bb1134bc892ab2ada669bed7aecb100ef7d5fThis page is referenced by:
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The Qing'an Temple: Meizhou and the Heimian Mazu Cult
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This page discusses the 1914 trip to Meizhou, home of the Mazu cult in Fujian, China, to retrieve a new image of the deity Mazu, and the establishment of the temple as a center of the Heimian Mazu cult.
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2021-10-04T12:21:20-04:00
25.12962, 121.74077
Jilong
1914-1915
Evan N. Dawley, Becoming Taiwanese
Evan N. Dawley
Xu Zisang
Qing'an Temple
Mazu
Xu Zisang and other Jilong residents fortified the sacred geography of the Qing'an Temple shortly after completing its renovation. In 1914, Xu led a group of nine across the Taiwan Strait, to the original home of the Mazu cult on Meizhou Island, a little north of Quanzhou. At the temple there, they lit incense and renewed the Qing'an's image of the deity, which they carried home to Jilong in a portable shrine. This trip marked a historic turning point for the temple. It was the first time in the temple's history that parishioners had made such a trip, therefore at this time they essentially made a proclamation of the Qing'an's autonomy from a Taiwan-based parent temple and its establishment of a direct linkage, through incense-division, to Mazu's ur-temple. Moreover, the new likeness was the heimian (or black-faced) Mazu, and the Qing'an Temple quickly became a center in Taiwan for this particular manifestation of the deity. Shortly before embarking on a mission to attack and control indigenous people near Hualian in 1915, some Jilong residents prayed in front of this black-faced Mazu. When they emerged victorious, this version of Mazu gained popularity across Taiwan and the Qing'an became her parent temple on the island, developing its own branches and incense-division network. Each year, on the appointed day for the temple's Mazu festival, representatives of the branch temples joined Jilong residents in the celebration.
Continue along this pathway to explore more of Jilong's pre-colonial sacred geography. Or click here to return to the module landing page to choose another itinerary.
