Meizhou Island

Meizhou Island is close to the shore of Putian, Fujian, China. It is most famous for being the birthplace of the goddess . Meizhou has 38,000 inhabitants, most of which have traditionally been in fishery.

Meizhou Island is entirely under Meizhou that is divided into 11 villages:
* Gaozhu
* Xiashan "Downhill"
* Lianche " Pond"
* Beidai "North Dam"
* Dongcai "The East s"
* Xiting "The Western Pavilion"
* Ganglou "The Tower by the Port"
* Xaixia
* Dayang "Great Ocean"
* 3 more

Meizhou Township is a sub-organization of Putian Municipality.

Geography

In the northern part of the mouth of Meizhou Bay, Meizhou Island is 14.35 , 9.6 north-south, and 1.3 km east-west. The beach is 20-km.

History

In June 1988, Meizhou became an open provincial tourism economic region . And in April 1992, Taiwanese were allowed to have landing s on the island, and in October of the same year, it became a national tourism-vacation region . In October 1999, the island is formally opened to foreign nations.

Annually, 100,000 Taiwanese pilgrims come to Meizhou to see the place where Matsu once lived. Some pilgrims make the visit every year. A celebration takes place in October, with 1,200 attending.

Tourist attractions

The Heavenly Empress Palace-Meizhou Ancestral Temple started as a small shrine soon after Matsu's death in the 10th century. It is now renovated and greatly enlarged to accommodate the pilgrims.