[14][a] During this era, Fujian was greatly sinicized by influxes of refugees fleeing invasions of northern China and it has been hypothesised that Mazu's cult represented a hybridization of Chinese and native indigenous culture.

[16] The earliest record of her cult is from two centuries later, an 1150 inscription that mentions "she could foretell a man's good and ill luck" and, "after her death, the people erected a temple for her on her home island".

[3] She was said to have been born under the reign of the Quanzhounese warlord Liu Congxiao (d. 962), in the Min Kingdom,[3] which eventually developed into the specific date of the 23rd day of the third month of the Chinese lunar calendar[11][b] in AD 960, the first year of the Song.

[4] Late legends intended to justify Mazu's presence in Buddhist temples held that her parents had prayed to Guanyin for a son but received yet another daughter.

1670) claimed that, while still a girl, she was visited by a Taoist master (elsewhere a Buddhist monk)[20] named Xuantong (玄通; Xuántōng) who recognized her Buddha nature.

By 13, she had mastered the book of lore he had left her (玄微袐法; Xuánwēi Bìfǎ)[8] and gained the abilities to see the future and visit places in spirit without travel.

She met a Taoist immortal at a fountain[20] at sixteen and received an amulet[8] or two bronze tablets which she translated[20] or used to exorcize demons, to heal the sick,[5] and to avert disasters.

[3] Still another places her death at age 16, saying she drowned after exhausting herself in a failed attempt to find her lost father,[23] underlining her filial piety.

[25] In a book of the Taoist Canon (太上老君說天妃救苦靈驗經; 太上老君说天妃救苦灵验经; Tàishàng Lǎojūn Shuō Tiānfēi Jiùkǔ Língyàn Jīng), the Jade Woman of Marvelous Deeds (妙行玉女) is a star from the Big Dipper brought to earth by Laojun, the divine form of Laozi, to show his compassion for those who might be lost at sea.

In the fourth year of the Xuanhe period of emperor Huizong of the Song dynasty, with the cyclical signs ren yin (1122), the Supervising Secretary Lu Yundi received an order to go on a mission to Korea.

The Gentleman who Guards Righteousness, Li Zhen, a man who had visited (Sheng)dun for a long time, told him everything about the merciful manifestations of the holy princess.

Yet, when in the course of my vagrant life I almost arrived at the brink of death, not even my father and mother, in spite of their utmost parental love, could help me, while a divine girl, by simply breathing, was able to reach out to me.

[27][e] This structure had been renamed the Smooth Crossing Temple by Emperor Huizong of Song in 1123 after his envoy Lu Yundi (路允迪; Lù Yǔndí) was miraculously saved during a storm the year before while on an official mission to pay respects to the court of Goryeo upon the death of its king, Yejong,[27] and to replace the Liao dynasty as the formal suzerains investing his successor, Injong.

[32][f] Her worship subsequently spread: Li Junfu's early-13th century Putian Bishi records temples on Meizhou and at Qiaodou, Jiangkou, and Baihu.

[33] By 1257, Liu Kezhuang was noting Putian's "large market towns and small villages all have... shrines to the Princess" and that they had spread to Fengting to the south.

In the midst of the rushing waters it happened that, when there was a hurricane, suddenly a divine lantern was seen shining at the masthead, and as soon as that miraculous light appeared the danger was appeased, so that even in the peril of capsizing one felt reassured and that there was no cause for fear.

As Mazuism spread, it began to absorb the cults of other local shamanesses such as the other two of Xianyou's "Three Princesses"[36] and even some lesser maritime and agricultural gods, including Liu Mian[31] and Zhang the Heavenly Instructor.

[8] He patronized the Mazu temples of Nanjing and prevailed upon the Yongle Emperor to construct the city's Tianfei Palace; because of its imperial patronage and prominent location in the empire's southern capital, this was long the largest and highest-status center of Mazuism in China.

[24] The Ming prince Zhu Shugui's palace was converted into Tainan's Grand Matsu Temple, the first to bear her new title of "Heavenly Empress".

[37] As late as the 19th century, the Qing government officially credited her divine intervention with their 1884 victory over the French at Tamsui District during the Sino-French War and specially honored the town's temple to her, which had served as General Sun Kaihua's headquarters during the fighting.

[38] Today, Mazuism is practiced in about 1500 temples in 26 countries around the world, mostly in the Sinosphere or the overseas Chinese communities such as that of the predominantly Hokkien Philippines.

In Mainland China, Mazuism is formally classified as a cult outside of Buddhism and Taoism, although numerous Buddhist, Confucianist and Taoist temples include shrines to her.

[citation needed] A major project to build the world's tallest Mazu statue at Tanjung Simpang Mengayau in Kudat, Borneo, was officially launched by Sabah.

[40] The primary temple festival in Mazuism is Lin Moniang's traditional birthday on the 23rd day of the 3rd month of the Chinese lunar calendar.

[47] In 2011, CCP general secretary Xi Jinping instructed cadres to "make full use" of Mazu for Chinese unification efforts.

[6] In religious statuary, she is usually clothed in the attire of an empress, and decorated with accessories such as a ceremonial hu tablet and a flat-topped imperial cap (冕冠，mian'guan) with rows of beads (liu) hanging from the front and back.