Tianfei Palace

A temple to Tianfei - the sea goddess better known in southern China as Mazu - founded by imperial order in 1407, after Zheng He came back from the first of his voyages to the Indian Ocean; the Yongle Emperor credited her with the fleet's safe return. It once had 79 halls and rooms; it was wrecked after the 1850s and destroyed completely in the winter of 1937. What you walk through now was rebuilt for the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages, begun at the end of 2004 and opened in May 2005.