Qiaodou Village

Qiaodou 桥兜村
Village
Qiaodou Location in Fujian
Coordinates: 25°18′26″N 119°12′15″E
Country	PRC
Province	Fujian
City (Prefecture)	Putian
District (County)	Licheng
Town	Huangshi
Population  (2010)	1,000
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)

Qiaodou
Traditional Chinese	橋兜
Simplified Chinese	桥兜
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Qiáodōu

Former names
Ninghai
Traditional Chinese	寧海
Simplified Chinese	宁海
Literal meaning	Pacifying the Sea(s) Pacified Sea(s)
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Nínghǎi

Qiaodou Village is a village under the administration of Huangshi in Putian's Licheng District on the central coast of Fujian Province, China. It had about 1,000 people during the 2010 census.

Geography

Qiaodou lies on the southern Putian Plain northwest of the Houhai bay or lake.

History

Qiaodou was known as Ninghai during the Song and Ming. It is still home to the ancient stone Ninghai Bridge over a branch of the Mulan.

Religion

Qiaodou is the site of the earliest-attested temple to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu, the deified form of the 10th-century shamaness Lin Moniang. Supposedly, Lin was born on nearby Meizhou Island, usually regarded as the cradle of her cult, but she probably spent her adult life on the mainland. In 1086, she joined the deities venerated at the town's "Holy Mound" (圣墩, Shengdun) after appearing to the villagers in their dreams following a series of mysterious lights at the mound.

The main temple in the Qiaodou area today is the Jiucha Temple (纠察庙) honoring the Great God of Jiucha (纠察大神). Its religious processions occur on the second and third days of the second lunar month.

References

Bibliography

• Clark, Hugh (2006), "The Religious Culture of Southern Fujian, 750–1450: Preliminary Reflections on Contacts across a Maritime Frontier" (PDF), Asia Major, Vol. XIX, Pt. 1, Taipei: Institute of History and Philology.
• Clark, Hugh R. (2007), Portrait of a Community: Society, Culture, and the Structures of Kinship in the Mulan River Valley (Fujian) from the Late Tang through the Song, Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, ISBN 9789629962272.
• Dean, Kenneth; et al. (2010), Ritual Alliances of the Putian Plain, Vol. II, Handbook of Oriental Studies, §4: China, Vol. 23/2, Leiden: Brill, ISBN 978-9004176010.
• Luo Zhewen; et al. (1993), Ancient Chinese Bridges.
• Soo Khin Wah (1990), "The Cult of Mazu in Peninsular Malaysia", The Preservation and Adaption of Tradition: Studies of Chinese Religious Expression in Southeast Asia, Contributions to Southeast Asian Ethnography, No. 9, Columbus: OSU Department of Anthropology, pp. 29–51.