More than 1,000 people from China 's mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan attended the opening ceremony of the Tianjin Mazu Culture Tourism Festival Thursday.

They gathered at the square in front of Tianjin's Tianhou Temple, the third largest Mazu temple in the world, to pay their respect to the Goddess of the Sea.

At present, the number of the Mazu followers exceeds 100 million worldwide. There are more than 3,000 Mazu temples around the world.

The worshipping of Mazu originated in a story about a man who lived more than 1,000 years ago and who fought courageously against pirates and helped salvage victims of maritime disasters.

(People’s Daily 04/19/2001)