![Mazu Temple](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Mazu_Temple.jpg)
Meizhou Island (;
Pu-Xian Min
Puxian (Hinghwa Romanized: ''Pó-sing-gṳ̂''; ), also known as Pu-Xian Chinese, Puxian Min, Xinghua, Henghwa or Hinghwa (''Hing-hua̍-gṳ̂''; ), is a Sinitic language that forms a branch of Min Chinese. Puxian is a transitional variety of C ...
: ''Mî-ciu-doh''), Meichow; Meichou,
is a small island close to the coast of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Meizhou Town () is an administrative unit of
Xiuyu District
Xiuyu District () is a district of the city of Putian, Fujian, People's Republic of China. The district executive, legislature and judiciary are in Hushi Town (), together with the CPC and PSB branches.
History
In October 1952, PRC and ROC fo ...
,
Putian
Putian or Putien (, Putian dialect: ''Pó-chéng''), also known as Puyang (莆阳) and Puxian (莆仙), historically known as Xinghua or Hing Hwa (), is a prefecture-level city in eastern Fujian province, China. It borders Fuzhou City to the nor ...
,
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
, China. It is known for being the birthplace of the goddess
Mazu
Mazu or Matsu is a Chinese sea goddess also known by several other names and titles. She is the deified form of the legendary figure Lin Mo or Lin Moniang, a Fujianese shamaness whose life span is traditionally dated from 960 to 987. Re ...
. Meizhou has 38,000 inhabitants, most of whom are involved in the
fishing industry
The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...
. The local language spoken is
Pu-Xian Min
Puxian (Hinghwa Romanized: ''Pó-sing-gṳ̂''; ), also known as Pu-Xian Chinese, Puxian Min, Xinghua, Henghwa or Hinghwa (''Hing-hua̍-gṳ̂''; ), is a Sinitic language that forms a branch of Min Chinese. Puxian is a transitional variety of C ...
.
History
![Fujian quan tu LOC 96685903](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Fujian_quan_tu_LOC_96685903.jpg)
An open provincial tourism economic region () since June 1988, in April 1992 Meizhou Island introduced a landing
visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
policy for visitors from
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. In October of the same year it became a national tourism-vacation region (). The island was formally opened to visitors from overseas in October 1999.
Annually, some 100,000 Taiwanese pilgrims come to Meizhou to see the place where Matsu once lived, some of whom visit every year.
Administration
Meizhou Island is administered by Meizhou
Town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
, an area that is divided into 11 villages:
* Gaozhu ()
* Xiashan () "Downhill"
* Lianche () "
Lotus Pond"
* Beidai (北埭 dài) "North
Dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
"
* Dongcai () "The East
Cais"
* Xiting () "The Western Pavilion"
* Ganglou () "The Tower by the Port"
* Zhaixia () "Lower Village"
* Dayang () "Great Ocean"
along with three others.
Geography
Located in the northern part of the mouth of
Meizhou Bay, Meizhou Island covers an area of and measures north-south, and east-west. The beach runs for around .
Tourist attractions
The Heavenly Empress Palace-Meizhou Ancestral Temple () began as a small shrine soon after Matsu's death in the 10th century. It has now been renovated and greatly enlarged to accommodate pilgrims.
See also
*
List of islands of China
This is a list of islands of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Islands that are claimed by the PRC, including those under the control of the Republic of China and those disputed with other countries, are noted after the list.
Chinese charact ...
References
External links
Six photos of the Matsu ceremony in Meizhou
湄洲岛管委会
{{Coord, 25.076, N, 119.122, E, display=title, source:dewiki
Islands of Fujian
Islands of the South China Sea
Taiwan Strait
Tourist attractions in Putian
Putian