On a quiet street in Shanghai's Changning district stands a small temple with elegant upturned eaves. This is "Mocca Space," a cultural venue founded by Yang Yanzhen from the island of Taiwan. Far more than just a physical space, Mocca Space is dedicated to showcasing, exploring, and passing down the faith and spirit of Mazu - the revered goddess of the sea. For Yang and the young volunteers from the island of Taiwan working here, Mocca Space is a heartfelt "love poem" to Mazu.
"For young people in Taiwan, Mazu is like oxygen - it is inscribed in our genes, an inseparable part of our daily lives," Yang told the Global Times.
Named after Mazu's birth name, Lin Mo, Mocca Space regularly hosts exhibitions themed on Mazu's grand processions and rituals. It also offers a variety of interactive activities, from palanquin workshops and clay sculpture making to ukulele sing-alongs, and fortune-stick reading sessions. These activities are designed to make the culture and values of Mazu accessible and alive for young people in the city.
At the 10th Global Mazu Culture Forum, which concluded on Sunday, Yang announced her latest venture: developing an "AI Mazu" program. This innovative project allows users to engage in simple conversations with a digital version of the goddess - a bold attempt to breathe new life into ancient beliefs through cutting-edge technology.
While Yang seeks out the secret of Mazu culture's vitality through digital and artistic innovation, another group of young people are contributing their voices in their own way. Teachers and students from the Mazu culture workshop at Peking University have traveled to Mazu's birthplace on Meizhou Island of Putian, East China's Fujian Province. There, they walked the streets and alleys, conversed with locals, and, drawing on their academic strengths, work to unearth contemporary expressions of Mazu's core values: inclusiveness, unity, and helping those in need.
The faith in Mazu originated during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Over time, as the goddess repeatedly rescued fishermen in distress, her legend coalesced into a spirit of "virtue, kindness, and great love." In 2009, the Mazu belief and customs were inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. For today's youth like Yang and Peking University students, Mazu culture can be a grand festival, an art exhibition, a Mazu-shaped refrigerator magnet, or even a simple greeting in daily life.
Mazu in her prime
"Mazu is, herself, a young woman," said Meng Man, a professor at the School of History and Culture at Minzu University of China, speaking at the Global Mazu Culture Forum. According to the legends, Mazu lost her life at the age of 28 while rescuing people at sea - making her, in terms of age, undeniably a youth. Meng also emphasized that the vitality of Mazu culture today is akin to that of a young person: It unites the youth through the universal pursuit of kindness and love.
Yang's own experience is a testament to this. After coming to Shanghai from the island of Taiwan, she found herself surrounded by friends who shared love for Mazu culture. To better interpret and spread this cultural heritage, she and her team have curated a series of exhibitions at Mocca Space, all of which are open to the public free of charge.
One recent exhibition, "Good Fortune - Mazu Faith and Customs," was a collaborative effort with volunteers from Taiwan in Shanghai. Together, they created a tabletop game called "Ocean Adventurer," which presents the seven major routes by which Mazu's influence has spread over more than 1,000 years - envoy missions, maritime transport, overseas trade, the Grand Canal, business migration, and settlement. Visitors to the exhibition were not able to resist playing a round, gaining an intuitive understanding of the journeys Mazu's culture has taken.
For the Taiwan youth drawn together by faith in Mazu, Mocca Space feels like home. They take the initiative to clean, organize, and care for the space as if it were their own. "Whether it is faith or cultural temperament, there is a thread connecting people on both sides of the Straits that simply cannot be severed," Yang said. "Mazu culture can become a spiritual bridge linking people across the Straits."
Finding cultural roots
Young people are drawn to Mazu culture because they feel a genuine need for her presence in their lives. Naturally, they take up the baton of cultural inheritance. Through Mazu culture, it is also possible to learn what today's youth think and care about, and to foster dialogue on an equal footing, Liu Jinhe, assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University and deputy secretary-general of the Mazu culture workshop, told the Global Times.
Student research teams from the workshop have visited multiple sites on Meizhou Island, exploring the region's vibrant Mazu-inspired creative products and attending live performances about Mazu's legendary deeds. They also witnessed the solemn ceremony of over 40 visitors from Zhangzhou making a pilgrimage to the ancestral Mazu temple on Meizhou Island.
These field trips have resulted in academic papers and a deeper understanding of Mazu culture. Lin Yucheng, a postgraduate student at Peking University from Fuzhou of Fujian, told the Global Times that cultural and creative products, film and television works, and stage performances all serve as new vessels for Mazu's spirit, attracting more young people to explore the deeper meaning behind these artifacts.
"I come from Quanzhou of Fujian. If there is a Mazu temple in a place, I immediately feel at home - and so do many young people," Liu added. "Mazu culture has spread throughout the world. For Chinese youth familiar with Mazu, this is their home, their spiritual root."
(Web editor: Huang Kechao, Liang Jun)
Editor:Cai Xiaohui
