Meizhou Island (; Pu-Xian Min: ''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 List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. 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 ...

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 no ...

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 ...

, 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. ...

. 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.

History

An open provincial tourism economic region () since June 1988, in April 1992 Meizhou Island introduced a landing visa 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 no ...

. 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 o ...

, an area that is divided into 11 villages: * Gaozhu () * Xiashan () "Downhill" * Lianche () " Lotus Pond" * Beidai (北埭 dài) "North Dam" * Dongcai () "The East

Cai Cai or CAI may refer to: Places * Cai (state), a state in ancient China * Caí River, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Cái River, Vietnam * Cairo International Airport (IATA airport code) * Caithness, a historic county in Scotland (Chapman code) ...

s" * 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 (, Hakka Chinese: Mòichû) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, China. It has an area of , and a population of 3,873,239 million as of the 2020 census. It comprises Meijiang District, Meixian District, Xingning City ...

, 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