Taichung Begins Construction of Giant Mazu Statue After 12-Year Delay
Construction of a giant statue of the sea goddess Mazu is underway in central Taiwan after 12 years. At 53.6 meters tall including the base, it's set to be the country's tallest statue of the popular deity.
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00:00Here in Da'an Matsu Park in central Taiwan,
00:03workers are building what's set to be the country's tallest statue of the sea goddess Matsu,
00:09a popular deity in Chinese folk religion worshipped by about 10 million people in Taiwan.
00:15Taichung City Mayor Lu Shouyan says the statue will be 53.6 meters tall when completed,
00:21including its base, a height Lu says was decided by the goddess herself.
00:27The height and shape of the statue will be decided by the goddess herself.
00:35After a long process of preparation, the statue is now ready to be unveiled.
00:43A record-breaking two million people took part in this year's Dajia Matsu pilgrimage,
00:48Taiwan's largest religious procession carrying the sea goddess through extreme heat
00:52across hundreds of kilometers.
00:54Effigies of Matsu have also made special appearances overseas in Japan and toured around the U.S.,
01:01popping up in places like New York, Houston and San Francisco.
01:05But here in Taichung, it took 12 years, two mayors and almost 20 million U.S. dollars in donations
01:12to start work on this Matsu.
01:14No additional budget was set aside by the central Taiwanese city for the project.
01:18The statue needs to be donated by the people.
01:22This is the most difficult part.
01:25Locals are hopeful that having the Matsu statue overlook the coastline here
01:30will bring more visitors to Taichung and ensure the city gets the goddess' protection.
01:35Yisen Chen and Joyce Zen for Taiwan Plus.