The indissoluble relationship between the "post-85" girl and the Mazu culture on both sides of the strait

[News Page-Taiwan Straits Network]

An ancient statue of Mazu on display with a clove of incense.　Photo by Wu Guanbiao

Quanzhou, China, January 3 (Wu Guanbiao) "Mazu culture is an important link connecting compatriots on both sides of the strait and overseas Chinese at home and abroad, and after the epidemic, we still want to go to Taiwan to hold a cross-strait simultaneous Mazu coming-of-age ceremony." After hosting a unique "Mazu Coming of Age Ceremony", Sun Zixuan, director of the Mazu Cultural Exhibition Hall, set a new goal for himself.

Dressed in clean and simple Hanfu, with a pill head, and always with a bright smile when explaining the ancient statues of Mazu in the museum, who could have imagined that Sun Zixuan, like many "post-85" girls, was also a fashion girl.

Sun Zixuan and Mazu were married by a dream. In 2016, she set foot on Meizhou Island, Mazu's hometown, for the first time, and since then she has slowly become interested in Mazu culture. "In 2018, our three 'post-85s' founded 'One Petal Incense' together."

Sun Zixuan introduced that "one petal of incense" comes from the ancient poem "Twenty Rhymes of the White Lake Temple" in "Lingfei a woman, petal incense up Meizhou", describing the scene of Mazu's birth. The Mazu Cultural Exhibition Hall has a collection of more than 1,000 Mazu cultural creations, of which more than 300 are ancient statues of Mazu, spanning 8 centuries, from the ancient statue of Mazu in the Southern Song Dynasty to the ancient statue of Mazu in the shape of the Late Qing Dynasty.

Since the establishment of "One Petal of Incense", Sun Zixuan has devoted himself to the study of Mazu culture, the dissemination of Mazu culture, and the collection of ancient statues of Mazu. "The more I study Mazu culture, the more I feel that there is nothing wrong with the path I have taken, and that the spirit of Mazu Lide, doing good deeds, and great love is worth loving, learning, and publicizing with my whole life."

However, the process of building the museum and collecting the ancient statues of Mazu has not been smooth. Most of the ancient statues of Mazu in the collection were bought at high prices from domestic antique collectors, and some of them were obtained in foreign auctions, many of which were twisted and turned and incurred a lot of costs, which made Sun Zixuan and her partners nervous.

"We just want every Mazu statue to have a 'home.'" Sun Zixuan said with a smile that the exhibition hall is of a public welfare nature, no fee, no sale of god statues, can persist in addition to their own love, but also benefit from the support and help of many Mazu believers.

In order to promote Mazu culture, Sun Zixuan often brought some ancient statues of Mazu to hold exhibitions in various places. "What impressed me the most was an exhibition in Shanghai, where a visitor told me that he knew about the Mazu faith, but he didn't know that there was really such a person in history, such a touching story. When I talked about the abandoned and destroyed statue of Mazugu, he also shed tears. It made me feel like all the setbacks I've experienced are worth it. ”

Over the years, Sun Zixuan has also thought about how to adapt Mazu culture to the development of the current era, so that more young people at home and abroad can accept Mazu culture and feel the charm and cultural connotation of Mazu culture.

The Mazu coming-of-age ceremony is the innovation of Sun Zixuan and his partners. Sun Zixuan loves clothing fashion, when she was guarding the museum, she has always paid attention to the clothing design characteristics of the ancient statue of Mazu, and finally integrated and innovated the Mazu culture with traditional etiquette and traditional costumes, and designed activities such as mazu coming-of-age ceremony and mazu opening ceremony, and she herself also fell in love with Hanfu culture and traditional etiquette.

In addition, Sun Zixuan, who followed Mazu, also had his own persistence. Sun Zixuan is not like most folk believers who "burn incense and worship" the statue of Mazu, and the daily ritual is only to pay homage to Mazu for tea. In Sun Zixuan's eyes, the spirit of great love in Mazu culture is the root of her follow-up and admiration.

Nowadays, the recognition and attention of Mazu culture in the society are constantly increasing, and the volunteer team of one petal incense is also increasing. Sun Zixuan is very optimistic about the future, "At present, our biggest wish is to do a mazu world tour exhibition along the 'Sea Silk Road' after the epidemic, publicize the Mazu culture, and tell the Chinese story well." (End)