**3. The Transformation of Material Culture in Mazu Worship in Modern Times**

In modern times, Mazu worship has experienced salient transformations due to social and political changes. As we will see, the material expression of traditional Mazu worship has been transformed in terms of the scope of the devotion and the media used by devotees. These changes stem from the tight interaction of religious traditions with the rapid growth of tourism and cultural industries. In this section, I will discuss this interaction, showing how it has transformed religious sites, sacrificial ceremonies, religious performances, and statues connected with Mazu, as well as the image and place of the goddess in Chinese culture more generally.

First, religious spaces associated with Mazu have been dramatically transformed. This has included not only the renovation of the traditional temple complex and the enlargement of the temple complex, as in the past, but also the construction of the Heritage Park of the Celestial Consort's Home Place (*Tianfei guli yizhi gongyuan*). As we saw, Mazu's ancestral temple evolved from a simple shrine to a splendid temple complex in the late Qing dynasty. Unfortunately, this Qing-style temple was destroyed during the cultural revolution. In 1978, Lin Zhicong, the leader of the temple association, along with local people, initiated a reconstruction project seeking to reproduce the traditional buildings, particularly the western wing of the ancestral temple. I have argued in my study of transnational religious tourism and Mazu worship that this reconstruction process was an attempt to recover origins. By reproducing the temple as it was at its height, the temple association wanted to establish an unbroken link with the original place of Mazu worship, "further legitimizing the temple as the undisputed inheritor of ancient religious tradition." (see Zhang 2021, p. 6). Thus, what we have here is a modern "re-founding" of religious tradition.

The transformation of material culture in modern times is not just limited to the recovery of traditional styles, but has mainly been manifested by the enlargement of temple complexes to accommodate the growing number of religious tourists and visitors. According to the *Temple Inscription of Meizhou Ancestral Temple*, the temple association launched the construction of the southern wing of the temple complex as a response to an official proposal made by the local government to establish the national tourist resort of Meizhou Island. The southern wing of the temple complex was based on the blueprint designed by Tsinghua University, following the traditional Song style. This newly built, pseudo-classic temple architecture occupies over 320,000 square meters, including the Efficacious Compassion Palace (*lingci dian*), the Celestial Empress Palace (*tianhou dian*), the Timely Salvation Palace (*shunji dian*), a temple gate, the Great Memorial Building (*dapai lou*), the Praying Blessing Palace (*qifu dian*), a drum bell tower (*zhongu lou*), the Celestial Empress Square (Tianhou), a theatrical stage, and an exhibition hall of Mazu culture.

What is important to note here is that while these new spaces are "religious" in the sense that they are associated with Mazu and her devotion, they do not have explicit ritual significance. Rather, they are primarily "cultural" spaces which have become very popular with pilgrims and tourists because they have either natural or historical significance. This is certainly the case for the "Potala Palace on the Sea", which is meant to honor the majesty and beauty of the Meizhou landscape. In turn, the exhibition hall of Mazu culture displays objects related to the worship, such as her relics, antiques, paintings, and calligraphies. The visitors I interviewed at the hall told me that they were attracted by the showcased artefacts that illustrate the history of Mazu worship and manifest the essence of Mazu culture. After visiting and viewing these objects, they felt more connected to the goddess.15

In addition to the enlargement of the temple complex, the construction of the Heritage Park of Mazu's Home Place exemplifies the transformation of material culture in contemporary Mazu worship. The construction project of Heritage Park was initiated in 2010, consisting of three main parts: the Celestial Consort's Home Place (*tianfei guli*), the Museum of Mazu Culture Origin (*Mazu yuanliu bowu guan*), and the Peace Tower (*ping'an ta*). The Celestial Consort's Home Place, built in pseudo-Tang architecture, materially manifests Mazu's living environment and her later deification. In my interview with the Vice President of the Temple Association, Wu Guochun, he admitted that the construction of Mazu's home place serves as a cultural media for visitors and Mazu devotees to understand Mazu's life story, expressing the historical and humanistic connotations of Mazu beliefs and culture. The Museum of Mazu Cultural Origin was designed to showcase the historical origin of Mazu's birth at Meizhou Island through cultural relics, pictures, statues, and three-dimensional animation. Through the multimedia of light, sound, and vision, the museum serves as a material channel to legitimize, if not spread, the spirituality of Mazu worship. The tourists I interviewed who were not Mazu devotees indicated that the multiple expressions of the goddess's culture did encourage their interests in her worship and increased their respect for her.16 When I asked a family of tourists who came to Meizhou Island because they were originally attracted by the area's natural and cultural attractions whether the historical objects generated any religious feelings for them, one of the members told me:

We are tourists from the north part of China. We came to visit Meizhou Island because it is a popular national tourist site. When we visited the Heritage Park and the Museum, I was impressed by the cultural heritage of the goddess, such as the texts and antiques, through which I became familiar with the history of the goddess worship. My little daughter was impressed by the animation. I am a Buddhist who does not believe in Mazu. After visiting these places, I got to know the goddess and felt a strong feeling of respect to the goddess and her great compassion.

Other non-believing tourists told me that they could feel the spirituality of Mazu as "a goddess with great compassion". In other words, even if these tourists do not believe in or worship Mazu as a divinity, they come to hold in high regard the values that her hagiography expresses through their interaction with her relics and the texts about her.

Regarding the Mazu devotees I interviewed, the sacred materialities at the temple deepened their devotion.<sup>17</sup> Ms. Cai appreciated the exhibition of historical relics, feeling that they gave her a fuller sense of Mazu's history, from her human life to her deification, from the Song dynasty to modern times. After viewing these relics and the objects connected with the devotion, she felt a stronger intimacy with the goddess. Mr. Zhang, a devotee from Hainan, said that material objects manifest a sense of the goddess' power and status through which devotees' beliefs are reinforced.

For instance, the Peace Tower is 9 floors and 48 meters high, symbolizing Mazu's authority as the Celestial Empress of the ninth heaven. The tower's height is not the only important thing, for it serves as a canvass onto which Mazu's history and cultural significance can be projected. This is illustrated by the carved pictures on the tower's bottom, which depict popular religious practices dedicated to Mazu at Meizhou Island, such as the greeting of the new year, the sending off of *Shunfeng er* (Mazu's attendant god), forbidding fishing, *guadou* (hanging the blessed money), *huanhua* (exchanging flowers with Mazu for babies), making red buns, and eating noodles for longevity.18 At nights, during religious holidays and special events, a dazzling three-dimensional light show of the history of Mazu worship is projected on the tower (see Figure 3). According to a local government report (2020), this light show, named "the light show of peace tower at the home place of the celestial consort" (*tianfei guli ping'an ta xiu*), is designed to enhance night entertainment for tourists and pilgrims.<sup>19</sup> Thus, not surprisingly, the tower has become one of the most popular tourist spots on Meizhou Island at night, attracting thousands of tourists and pilgrims.

**Figure 3.** The light show at the Peace Tower. Source: the author's own photograph.

The second aspect of the modern transformation of material culture in Mazu worship is the revival of sacrificial ceremonies and other religious performances. In the history of Mazu worship, the imperial governments developed the official ritual tradition of sacrificing to the goddess twice each year, in the mid-months of spring and autumn. The officially standardized tradition has some basic ritual structures similar to those of sacrificial rites dedicated to national deities, including preparation, "welcoming the goddess", the first sacrifice, the second sacrifice, the final sacrifice, and "bidding farewell to the deity".20 To establish its religious authority as the original place of Mazu worship and, thus, the goddess' preeminent pilgrimage site, as well as to enhance its appeal to tourists, the temple board sought to restore the "original", the official sacrifice ceremony. In 1993, the renewed official sacrifice ceremony was performed on the stage as the main event of the first tourist festival of Mazu culture (*Mazu wenhua lvyou jie*). Since then, the official sacrifice to Mazu at Meizhou has been closely connected to cultural tourism, as it is always performed during Meizhou's Mazu Cultural Tourist Festival.

As a modern expression of material culture in the Mazu tradition, the restored official sacrifice integrates some innovations into the traditional ceremony to meet the needs of devotees and increase tourist appeal. First, the sacrifice ceremony of the Meizhou temple adds some modern music and dancing elements, in effect staging it as cultural performance and entertainment. For example, the performance of *yuewu* (dance with music) is a modern version of the traditional sacrificial dance, *bayi*. *Yuewu* are solely performed by 20-year-old female dancers whose gentle and graceful dancing postures symbolize the female image of a compassionate sea goddess, "a beautiful young girl who saves people in the sea".21 Moreover, the music used in the revitalized sacrificial ceremony was composed by modern musicians Lin Hanzu and Zheng Ruilin, adapting some melodies from local music. Second, to increase the entertainment and aesthetic aspects of the performance, the contemporary version of the ceremony involves a large number of female actors, including dancers to simulate the beautiful goddess, female cantors and ritualists with beautiful body gestures, and a woman with a nice voice who functions as a host. Through my interviews with these female actors, I learned that they are local college students who receive a year of training. Only those with good posture and the appropriate heights and weights are selected to be on the stage. Third, to increase tourist attendance, a small-scale sacrificial ceremony is held every Sunday morning. In this way, tourists and pilgrims who did not have chance to attend the large-scale performance on Mazu's birthday, "Ascending to the Heaven Day", and the Mazu Cultural Tourist Festival can still experience the "glamour of traditional culture at the ancestral temple", as the Vice President of the Temple Association, Wu Guochun, expressed. More importantly, the restored official sacrifice of Mazu reconfigures the local religious rituals into performances that resonate with regional and national heritages, following the guidelines of the United Nations' Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). As such, these "folklorized" religious rituals provide a way for the central government to promote national unity and pride. I will discuss this "folklorization" in greater detail in the next section.

In addition to the sacrificial ceremony as a religious performance, the temple association has also created a night entertainment performance, "Auspicious Atmosphere of Meizhou" (xiangrui Meizhou) (see Figure 4).<sup>22</sup> This song and dance show combines popular religious practices with some traditional and modern music elements, including local religious practices, playing with flower lanterns, swaying sedan chairs, singing by the local opera of Puxian, and alternating ten voices and eight musical instruments (*shiyin bayue*). To emphasize the religious aspect of this show, it also includes a solo performance of *Yuewu*, the sacrificial dance.

**Figure 4.** The performance of "Auspicious Atmosphere of Meizhou". Source: author's own photograph.

The third aspect of the modern transformation of material culture in Mazu worship is the reinvention of Mazu statues. The ancestral temple was and is still dedicated to reproducing statues of the goddess from a variety of media, such as jade, gold, shell, wood, bronze, clay, and cloisonné. The modern expression of material culture in Mazu worship is primarily illustrated by the giant stone statue entitled "the Goddess of Peace". This stone statue, which is located at the highest spot of Meizhou mountain, is 14.35 meters high. It was designed in 1987 by Li Weisi and Jiang Zhiqiang, two professors at Xiamen University, and took three years to mold. Whereas in traditional images Mazu is portrayed in a sitting position, and should not be made of white material nor be exposed outside, for this modern statue, the goddess is in a standing posture, made of white granite stone, and is standing outside. Further, her facial expression is similar to the image of Guanyin (Chang 2013, p. 4). This stone statue is now commonly considered as a standard version of Mazu, widely accepted by devotees and scholars. This is attested to by the stamps issued by the national post office and the signature slogan of the ancestral temple at Meizhou.

The new changes in Mazu's statues illustrate the shared ideology of commercial, cultural, and religious agencies. First, because of its location above the ancestral temple, "The Goddess of Peace" provides a spectacular view of Meizhou Island, designed to attract tourists and pilgrims. Second, the new statue's facial expression emphasizes the religious essence of Mazu worship in modern China, full of "grace, benevolence, and philanthropy" (*lide xingshan da'ai*). In other words, the statue is not just a religious object to be worshiped by Mazu devotees, but also a material media to express a universal value, the goddess's great love and compassion to protect believers and non-believers. Third, since this statue was a gift donated by the Chaotian Palace at Beigang in Taiwan, it is widely considered as a symbol of unification of mainland China and Taiwan. The ancestral temple offered a replica of the statue to the Chaotian Palace in 1992 as a gift in return. These twin Mazu statues now

face each other across the Taiwan strait. In this sense, this statue illustrates the affinity and relationship between the Meizhou ancestral temple and the affiliated temple at Beigang. Indeed, officially named the Straits Goddess of Peace (*Haixia heping nüshen ˇ* ), the modern version of the goddess reflects the state's vision of a reunified Taiwan. This image also serves as an important medium to connect Mazu devotees in mainland China and overseas. Following the example of the Meizhou ancestral temple, temples in Guangzhou, Melbourne, and the newly built one in Nigeria have built the same style of statue.23 Devotees at these diasporic temples frequently go on a pilgrimage to the ancestral temple. Thus, we see the establishment of a temple system and a transnational worship community through the combined use of material culture, media, and travel.

The fourth aspect of the modern transformation of material culture in Mazu worship worth mentioning is the development of cultural products dedicated to Mazu worship. In modern times, the ancestral temple has extended its functions to include the development of a cultural and creative industry, producing a variety of items such as woodcarving decorations, safety pendants, Mazu dolls, and all kinds of products featuring the image of Mazu. All of these products flow to local and national markets. At the same time, the ancestral temple has organized a series of competitions and exhibitions, such as "The Best Mazu, the best Meizhou" (*zui Mazu zui Meizhou*), to encourage and support the development of Mazu cultural and creative products.

The development of Mazu's products is not just a material expression of Mazu culture and the spiritual essence of Mazu worship. It also illustrates the interactions among religion, tourism, and the manufacturing industry. These products transcend the traditional representations, since they are meant to take the devotion beyond temples. For example, different sizes of Mazu statues are crafted to facilitate portability and allow devotees to worship at household shrines. According to Zhang Junmei, the manager of the retail store of Mazu's cultural and creative products, that is the reason why portable products, such as refrigerator magnets with Mazu's image, are particularly popular.

The modern worship of Mazu is not just evident in markets; the goddess is also present online. To attract younger visitors, the ancestral temple live streams events through official accounts on We-Chat and TikTok. As the Vice President of the Temple Association told me, they use Weibo (a micro blog) and TikTok to increase tourist appeal for the young generation and tout the reputation of "the sacred site of Mazu" throughout the world. In my interviews with over 20 young tourists, they all admitted that they had visited these online accounts created by the ancestral temple before making their visit to Meizhou Island. In addition, to fulfill the needs of overseas devotees who could not make their pilgrimage to the ancestral temple during pandemic times, the temple association also created webpages to "pay homage to Mazu online" and "make pilgrimage on-line".

From the perspective of material religion, a variety of materialities, what Vásquez calls the "material infrastructure of the sacred", are now central to the performance of Mazu religious spirituality (Vásquez 2020). Whether we are speaking of architecture, Mazu statues, cultural and creative products, the high-profile sacrificial ceremonies, or websites, these forms of materiality reflect the interaction of religious beliefs and social dynamics. As argued by scholars of material religion, we should "recognize the diversity agencies at work in the production of religious practice, belief, narrative, and ideology." (Morgan 2021, p. 50). As the ancestral temple clearly shows, tourism plays a central role in the transformation, extension, and experience of sacred spaces and objects connected with the worship of Mazu. The religious space is not just renovated and enlarged with the goal of strengthening pilgrims' and devotees' religious beliefs, but also to attract tourists. The same can be said of traditional sacrificial ceremonies, which have been redesigned to appeal to devotees as well as to the tourists who are seeking a cultural experience. Finally, in its size, location, configuration and material use, the newly built stone statue of Mazu atop Meizhou Island symbolizes the tight synergy between spirituality and tourism, combining commercial, cultural, and religious forms and functions.

#### **4. Agencies and Mechanisms Underlying Material Transformations in Mazu Worship**

This section will focus on the underlying agencies and approaches through which the material culture in Mazu worship has developed a variety of new forms. As Morgan argues, the study of religion "as a material reality emerges from the recognition of the plurality of agents at work in any event of religious value." (Morgan 2021, p. 51). As we have seen, the material media of Mazu worship has been extended and integrated into the modern social and economic systems closely connected to cultural tourism. Thus, our analysis of these processes will have to be interdisciplinary, involving a discussion of economics, tourism, and religion.

Let us start with a sketch of the socio-economic context within and outside the ancestral temple since its reconstruction in 1978. Starting from 1986, the temple has been managed by a board with a chairman, marking an evolution from a religious organization managed solely by religious specialists to an entity that integrates religious, economic, and tourist services (Jiang and Zhu 2011, pp. 107–9, also see Zhang 2021). The temple operates and is organized just as a modern enterprise, consisting of different departments with specialized functions, such as improving the temple's ritual and tourist services, administrating various scenic attractions, and overseeing the production and sale of cultural and creative goods.

These internal transformations mirror and interact with external dynamics in the larger Chinese society. The first factor is the changing economic environment, in particular the rapid growth of the market economy. Scholars agree that the market economy has played a significant role in the revitalization of Chinese popular religious traditions (see Chau 2006; Johnson 2009; Lagerwey 2010; Goossaert and Palmer 2011). Popular or "folk" religions in China comprise a wide variety of local and regional beliefs, practices and fluid forms of organization that amalgamate elements of Daoism, Buddhism, and the worship of ancestors, spirits, and deities. The boundaries that these religions have with established religions and with the cultural milieu at large are often porous. In 2012, the Pew Research Center estimated that 21.9 percent of China's population (close to 300 million) practiced some version of popular religions.24 By 2020, the World Religion Database at Boston University placed that number at 30.4 percent (over 450 million).<sup>25</sup> While these numbers have to be taken with the proverbial grain of salt given the difficulty in measuring accurately an affiliation for such decentralized and hybrid religious phenomena, China observers agree that, following economic liberalization and the reforms I discuss below, the state has been laxer in overseeing popular religions than when it comes to Christianity and Islam because they are considered part of the country's heritage and identity.

The expansion of the market economy in China has opened opportunities and challenges for temple associations. Specifically, in the market economy, the operation and even survival of temples has come to be increasingly self-sustaining rather than depending on donations from devotees, which was the traditional way. Thus, the need to expand financial channels and increase income generated by tourism, as more Chinese people have the resources to travel and engage in pilgrimages, explains why the temple has shifted from a purely religious association to an entity structured to carry out significant socio-economic functions. For instance, in response to the growing economy generated by tourism, the ancestral temple built two large hotels—the Antai and the Qifu—to provide accommodation for tourists.

The second external factor in the transformation of material culture in the devotion to Mazu is the new orientation of official policies. The revival of popular religious traditions, including Mazu's cult across southeast China, has been made possible in large part by a dramatic shift in the government's attitudes toward Chinese religions, as exemplified by the implementation of "Document 19" in 1982.26 In Document 19, the official government suggested that organizations and communities with historical religious sites should be aware of their tourist significance: "architecture should be properly renovated, the environment should be fully protected. In this way, these religious sites will become tourist sites with clean, peaceful, and beautiful environments."27

Adding to the impact of Document 19, the Chinese government has strongly supported the promotion of intangible cultural heritage. In 2003, the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) promulgated the "Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage." On the basis of this convention, the Chinese government issued "Suggestions for Reinforcing Our National Efforts to Safeguard the Intangible Cultural Heritage." (see Zhang 2021, p. 20). This suggestion provides a detailed account of administrative procedures to implement the convention at both the national and provincial levels. Mazu worship was recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Culture as worthy of being included in the national list of "intangible cultural heritage" in 2009. This "cultural heritization" and "folklorization" (i.e., the recognition that the cult is a central part of the everyday life of the people) of Mazu devotional practices have given them legitimacy vis à vis the modern Chinese secular state and enhanced their visibility in the larger society.28

In line with the recommendation by the central government to develop religious tourism, local governments have also played a crucial role in the growth of religious tourism. Specifically, local governments are actively involved in restoring and promoting religious sites in their areas to increase revenue. As shown in its 2020 financial report, the local government of the area in which Mazu's ancestral temple is located fits this pattern: it has launched serval programs to improve the tourist environment of Meizhou Island. For example, the local government of Meizhou donated CNY 10,000,000 to improve the night lighting of the ancestral temple complex and other scenic spots. It also invested another CNY 10,000,000 to support the development of cultural and creative products dedicated to Mazu worship.<sup>29</sup> As a result, the year 2020 witnessed a 0.9% increase in tourists and a 0.99% increase in annual income generated through tourism during the pandemic period. In addition, officials from the Putian government, including the mayor of Putian, and the propaganda minister of the province of Fujian, were strongly supportive of the Meizhou's Mazu Cultural Tourist Festival of 2022.

The third factor in the changing social context is the development of the internet and the popularity of apps in China. The temple association of the ancestral temple is keenly aware of the spiritual and cultural needs of the young generation, and mindful that traditional rituals and material objects like statues may not fit the values and aesthetics of this generation. To attract them, the material culture has to be updated. Thus, the temple association has encouraged the production of goods connected with the cartoon Mazu, the use of three-dimensional animation to disseminate Mazu's hagiography, and the creation of live-broadcasting platforms.

Overall, the constellation of changing socio-economic and political contexts has contributed to the post-secular transformation of religions in modern China. While religions have not disappeared, or even become privatized, as the secularization paradigm had predicted, there has been a process of rationalization and instrumentalization. We see that the material expressions of Mazu worship have been deeply involved with commodification, tourism, and the preservation of religious traditions as cultural heritage. As Tom Bremer puts it, "commodification involves processes by which the aesthetic desires of the consumer become manifest, if only in the consumer's imagination, in material objects, cultural performances, and a host of services that consumers utilize". (Bremer 2020, p. 191). Thus, we see how the religious association at Mazu's ancestral temple has made use of religious symbols and practices to produce systematically material objects and ritual services that fulfill and create the desires of tourists and pilgrims. In this process, the material objects and services have increasingly become the bases of a modern consumerist religion invested with "transcendent power and sacred significance" (Chidester 2005, p. 3). This does not mean that the authenticity of the tradition has faded.30 Rather, the reconstruction and performance of religious ritual and historical authenticity become the bases for profit and transformation. As Bremer has observed, "religion in highly secularized modern contexts, translates authentic spiritual sentiments into the markets of late capitalism" (Bremer 2020, p. 191). We can say, then, that the materiality of Mazu culture transcends the strict demarcations between the sacred and the secular, tradition and innovation, and between past and future.

To summarize the interplay of internal and external factors and among new transformations of material culture, Mazu worship, and religious tourism, Kiran Shinde's model of the dynamics of religious tourism is helpful (Shinde 2003, p. 93; see Figure 5). Shinde argues that the interaction between religious tourists has a direct impact on the host environment. This is because the physical environment, which consists of natural and cultural attractions, as well as local transportation systems and the accommodation infrastructure, serves an intermediary role between, on the one hand, tourists and, on the other, religious institutions, the local economy, and the community (Shinde and Olsen 2020, p. 6). In other words, this model highlights how materiality, in the form of Meizhou's beautiful surroundings, the cultural attractions, and the infrastructure expanded by the temple association, has played a central role in the interplay between tourism and religion at Mazu's ancestral site.

**Figure 5.** Model of the dynamics of religious tourism. Source: (Shinde 2003, p. 93).

In the case of Mazu worship, with support from the local and provincial governments and the legitimacy provided by a shift in the way the nation-state approaches religion(s), the temple association has dramatically changed the physical environment to meet the needs of tourists and pilgrims. These changes, including the giant stone statue of the Peace Goddess, the construction of the Park of Mazu's Birth Place, the modern performances of religious ceremonies, and the exhibition of cultural and creative products, as well as light shows and the use of three-dimensional technologies, have intensified religious experiences for pilgrims, travelers, and tourists, thereby attracting larger numbers of tourists and increasing the revenue that they bring for the local government. This revenue can then be invested in more physical improvements. The transformative cycle, or rather spiral, then goes on.

Although the model of the dynamics of religious tourism is useful in the analysis of the interaction between religious tourism and the host environment, it does not pay enough attention to the role of material objects and culture, including their interactions with other external and internal factors. In addition, the study of the interrelationships between material culture, religious tourism, and the local society should also take into consideration the bigger picture, such as the development of the Internet and online markets. To fill in these gaps, I have modified Shinde's model (Figure 6).

**Figure 6.** The impact model of agencies and mechanisms in material culture of Mazu worship.

The revised model first emphasizes the crucial role of material culture, which serves as a medium in the integration of Mazu worship with religious tourism. Tourists, the cultural and creative industry, religious institutions, and the local government interact with each other through both the (transformed) physical environment and the material objects of Mazu's devotional cultures. To be more specific, the material culture of Mazu worship has been modified to make the tradition appealing to tourists, both religious and non-religious. Conversely, the development of religious tourism opens new spaces for material culture, in particular regarding the expansion of the Internet and cell phone networks as the material media to express Mazu culture.

Our reworked model also highlighted the agency of religious institutions, which, as we saw in the case of the temple association, play a key role in linking the establishment of authenticity and authority and ritual innovation with the creation of new cultural products and the promotion of tourism. Shinde's original model tended not to recognize this simultaneously "conservative" effect, in the sense of recovering and preserving tradition and the creative role of religious institutions in terms of the dynamics of religious tourism.

In this model of multi-directional feedback, the profits coming from religious tourism and material products serve as financial resources for the religious institutions to consolidate their authority and capacity to innovate. Religious tourism also contributes to increasing the financial revenue of local governments, and reciprocally the local government plays an important role to support and sponsor the development of religious tourism.

In terms of the relationship between religious tourism, local community and economy, religious tourism has had an indirect but significant impact on the development of the local economy, including infrastructural improvements that, in turn, lead to more job opportunities for the locals. Changes in the local economy and society feed back into more development of Mazu material culture, and so on. We saw how a central dimension of the infrastructural transformations is the enlargement of a local hospitality industry. As of today, there are 204 homestay hotels in Meizhou Island, bringing an extra CNY 60,000 in the annual income of the local society.31

The growth of the hospitality industry goes hand-in-hand with the rapid expansion in the production and sale of Mazu souvenir items. In fact, Mazu has become the overarching theme for the place and the needs and desires of tourists and pilgrims have come to define the spaces and rhythm of local life. In Mazu's religious procession around Meizhou Island, commemorating the day of her ascension to heaven (4 October 2022), the local government

played an important part in coordinating the bus transportation. Local buses were assigned to pick up pilgrims, tourists, and volunteers and to take them to the temple gate before 8 a.m. Thousands of tourists, pilgrims, and local devotees gathered at the ancestral temple square and picked up blessing flags and sunhats provided by the temple association. The religious procession began at 9 a.m., departing from the ancestral temple, walking around the island, and finally arriving at the blessing boat. During the Mazu procession, all kinds of material objects, such as goddess statues, sacrificial offerings, and souvenirs, were pervasive. Throughout the journey, the local businesses offered snacks, water, and fruits to the tourists and pilgrims for free. Through participating into these religious events, the tourists and pilgrims can certainly feel the spiritual and cultural atmosphere expressed through these material objects.<sup>32</sup> In my interviews with the tourists who participated in the religious procession, they all agreed that this coming together amid a profusion of objects related to Mazu generated powerful feelings of great love toward the goddess. Surrounded by bountiful goods during this journey, they came to understand the spiritual meaning of "Mazu blesses you".
