HONG KONG – The world’s only floating temple to the Cantonese sea goddess, Tin Hau, has found a new home.
The vessel was moved from its mooring to a permanent location, ensuring its future. The temple’s new location will make it more accessible to worshipers, provide safer access to worshipers, while offering better sheltering of the temple and future building from typhoons and other storms.
The deity, Tin Hau, who is also known as Mazu, is a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion and Daoism. Tin Hau protects fishermen and sailors, ensuring their safety and providing them with good weather and abundant catches. She is worshiped in coastal regions and among many fishing communities in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia. She also has several temples on the West Coast of the United States, set up by immigrants who wanted to give thanks for her protection in their journey to America.
The goddess has many titles including Princess of Numinous Grace, Illuminating Princess of Heaven who Protects the Nation, as well as Maternal Ancestor.
According to legends, Tin Hau was a human named Lin Mo, who lived during the Song Dynasty in the 10th century. She is said to have possessed extraordinary powers to predict and control the weather and the sea. After her death, she was deified and became Tin Hau, the goddess of the sea.
Tin Hau’s worship is marked by various rituals and festivals, especially during the Dragon Month, the third month of the lunar calendar that corresponds approximately from February 20 to March 20 in the Western solar calendar.
Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Hong Kong [Photo Credit: Николай Максимович CCA 3.0]
Many coastal communities hold grand celebrations and processions during this time to honor her and seek her blessings for a prosperous and safe fishing season. The temples themselves often serve as important cultural, architectural, and religious landmarks in the communities where they are located. They are not only places of worship but also symbols of the close relationship between the coastal inhabitants and the sea, which plays a vital role in their livelihoods.
The origin of the current temple is not clear, nor when it was first moored in the typhoon shelter area. The earliest known recording of the temple dates to 1955.
Earlier this month, Hong Kong authorities announced that after 30 years of work, the Triangular Island Goddess of Tin Hau Shrine of Peace will be located off Causeway Bay in Victoria Harbour. Authorities approved the site in 2015.
“The relocation of the Triangular Island goddess of Tin Hau Shrine to the shore is of great significance to the believers,” said Ms. Jennifer Chow Kit-bing, the chairwoman of the preparation committee for the move. “The temple ship had berthed in the centre of the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. Worshipers needed to board a tender boat to get to the temple. In case of bad weather, safety became an important issue.”
The cost of construction is estimated at HK $10 million (about $1.28 million USD).
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The design of the future temple will be a boat. Once the initial renovation of the on-shore temple is complete, a larger structure will be built around it. “Although the world’s only floating temple has moved ashore, we adopted a boat-shaped design in the new temple to retain the characteristics of the original temple,” Chow said.
The Chinese government may have acceded to the plans for political motivations. Tin Hau is said to have extraordinary power of healing and the Chinese government under Xi Jingping apparently sees pilgrimages a means for reconciliation with Chinese unification.
As The Economist reports, “The United Front Work Department, the Communist Party branch with the job of boosting China’s influence abroad, views the goddess as a tool to win Taiwanese hearts and minds.” The head of one temple is a member of China’s People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The temple will be accessible through a reservation system, due to the goddess’s popularity, limited space, and the large number of visitors.
Hong Kong hopes the new temple and structure will become a destination and it plans to coordinate marketing efforts with its tourism board.
“The floating Tin Hau temple has witnessed the changes and developments of Hong Kong and I hope the new temple will continue to preserve the culture and memories of the community and become a new tourist attraction,” added Deputy Secretary for Justice Cheung Kwok-kwan.
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