The Matsu worship is one of the most representative and characteristic folk religions in Fujian and Taiwan. Matsu was originally a human called Mo-nian Lin born in a Fujian fishing village in the Northern Song Dynasty. She was good at medicine and swimming and used to save fishermen and passengers from shipwrecks, she was loved by the villagers. She became a goddess at age 28, and locals thus built a temple to worship her. When tales of her salvations kept spreading, more and more people came to worship her at Matsu Temple.
There were many Matsu temples in the early settlements in southwest coast because she is regarded as the goddess of the sea and the major deity earlier immigrants worshipped for safety on their voyage to Taiwan. There are many Matsu temples and Divine Mother temples in southwest coast worshipping Matsu. The Taisheng Temple in Budai Township, Chiayi, and the Luermen Orthodox Divine Mother Temple and the Luermen Queen of Heaven Temple in Tainan City are the more famous examples with over 200-300 years of history.
It is said that the Matsu statues worshipped at the Luermen Orthodox Divine Mother Temple and the Luermen Queen of Heaven Temple were brought to Taiwan by Cheng-kong Zheng. The Wangkang Matsu statue worshipped at the Taisheng Temple was made in the late Ming Dynasty according to experts, and is thus a historic and valuable monument in folk religion.
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