Gong Yinghua/Article Long Hui/Pictures
Nanshan Tianhou Museum (originally Chijwan Tiangfei Temple), is located at the picturesque coast of the foot of Xiaonan Mountain in Shenzhen. The Nanshan Tianhou Museum, which was founded during the Song Dynasty, was renovated several times during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the early Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Eunuch Sanbao Zheng He, under the orders of Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty, led a fleet on a long voyage to the Western Seas, opening up the maritime "Silk Road", after which the Chijwan Tianhou Palace became an important stop on the maritime "Silk Road". Envoys of the court who were dispatched to various Southeast Asian countries would stop here to board the shore and offer incense as a grand ceremony praying for the protection of the Goddess Mazu. For thousands of years, Mazu has become a widely worshipped sea-protecting goddess in Chinese folk religion. Even today, with unprecedentedly developed science and technology, Mazu is still regarded as a deity by Chinese people at home and abroad, and her incense offerings remain very prosperous.
The Nanshan Tianhou Museum is an ancient temple with a long history, covering more than 900 acres, with dozens of magnificent and imposing buildings, making it the most popular temple in the history of Shenzhen for hundreds of years. This largest coastal temple in China with ninety-nine doors has always been a link between compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and overseas descendants of the Yanhuang lineage. In 1995, the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, known as the window of China's reform and opening-up, reopened the Chijwan Tianhou Palace, which had been neglected for decades due to historical reasons. With its long history and profound cultural heritage, the ancient Tianhou Temple regained its vitality. Nowadays, nearly 100,000 tourists visit the Tianhou Palace each year, and many believers come to worship Mazu. The Tianhou Palace has also evolved from a single folk belief into a broader national culture, attracting great interest from researchers in various disciplines such as navigation, shipbuilding, architecture, folk art, history, folklore, religion, and cultural relics. Mr. Li Dingxin, who is highly accomplished in feng shui research, also fortunately secured an important place in the magnificent and renowned Tianhou Palace, where there is now an exhibition hall titled "Li Dingxin and Chinese Feng Shui Exhibition".