The campaign board says that Meizhou is the home water of the girl whom sailors now pray to as Mazu and that her cult is spreading port by port.
By our recollection she is a woman of the island said to have lived in the tenth century; her temple on Meizhou island stands from the late tenth century by tradition, the court first honoured the cult in the twelfth century with a tablet for the temple and a title of Lady for her, and further titles followed. We did not check any of these dates. For 1200, it is safe to say that the cult is known along the coast from Fuzhou to Guangzhou and that the court has already given her titles.
No source we read lists the temple's land or dues. The later great titles (the Heavenly Consort and the Empress of Heaven) are of the Yuan and after and do not exist yet.
Who holds it
- Title
- Keepers of the temple of Mazu on Meizhou island
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Not known. No source we read names them.
Overlord
The prefect of Xinghua jun
What it holds
- The island temple and the pilgrim traffic to it
How it was acquired
Not known with dates.
Allies and rivals
The shipowners of Fuzhou, Xinghua and Quanzhou, who are her devotees; the prefect of Xinghua.
How things stand that morning
Growing.
Wealth
Offerings of the seafarers; no source.
Places of note
- Mazu's island: Island temple
Where the sources disagree
- Board "xinghua-putian" says "the Meizhou girl the sailors now pray to as Mazu": agreed. The later titles and the Tianhou name are after 1200.
Evidence: The campaign board and recollection. No page fetched gives dates for the cult.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A disc over the island.
Primary sources for Southern Song
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
- Outline and Details of Two Reigns (thirteenth century, after 1224). A Song outline-and-detail chronicle of exactly the two reigns around 1200, drawn from the court's daily records. Read online
- Annals of the Western Xia, Wu Guangcheng (吳廣成) (1825 to 1827, compiled from Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's year-by-year reconstruction of Tangut history from the Chinese histories, since the Xia left no surviving annals of their own in Chinese. Read online
- History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. Read online
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Record of the Great Jin State, Attributed to Yuwen Maozhao (宇文懋昭); the attribution is doubtful (preface dated 1234; probably assembled in the Southern Song from Song and Jin material, with later accretions). A Song-side history of the Jin, with annals for each emperor and chapters on institutions, customs, the capitals and the Jurchen way of life. Read online
12 more in the sources library for South China.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.