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

History

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.

References

External links