The golden statue of Mazu, the Chinese sea goddess widely worshipped in China's coastal areas, Taiwan Province and many overseas Chinese communities, will tour Macao in October, tour organizers announced on Monday.

It will be the first time that the statue, believed by devotees to be the sacred body of the goddess Mazu, will visit Macao, the city named after the Cantonese pronunciation of her name.

The statue will leave for Macao by air on Oct. 21, according to Liang Wenxing, an official with Chinese Mazu Culture Foundation in Macao, one of organizer of the historic tour.

The three-day tour will include a series of activities such as a memorial ceremony to worship Mazu on Oct. 22 and a three-hour circumambulation to offer blessings to people in Macao on Oct. 23. The statue will fly back to her temple on the Meizhou Island after a send-off ceremony in Macao on Oct. 24, Liang said.

The legend of Mazu began some 1,000 years ago when a young woman born on the island sacrificed her life while trying to save seafarers endangered by rough seas. Soon afterwards, endangered sailors riding out rough seas claimed to have visions of her walking on water and leading their boats to safety.

Mazu still maintains her powerful influence and is worshipped in coastal regions and Chinese around the world because of her bravery in fighting against pirates and saving a lot of lives from sea.

The statue of Mazu paid visits to Taiwan twice in 1997 and 2002.During its first trip to Taiwan in 1997, more than 10 million believers paid respect to it.

There are over 4,000 Mazu temples in 20 nations and regions in the world and the number of followers of Mazu reached more than 200 million worldwide.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2004)