Document #1036986
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
A history professor at Lakehead University
in Thunder Bay, Ontario with expertise on religion in China stated
during a 2 March 1995 telephone interview that Ma Zhu, known more
commonly as Matsu, is the name of a female deity worshipped by
sailors and fishermen in Chinese coastal provinces such as
Guangdong and Fujian. During a 2 March 1995 telephone interview,
this information was corroborated by a professor at the History
Department of McGill University who is knowledgeable about
China.
According to McGill history professor,
Matsu was born in the Sung dynasty in the Fukien province, and
because of her spritual power, she received after her death high
titles from the Imperial court (2 Mar. 1995). One of the titles she
received was Tien Hou, the Queen or Imperial Consort of
Heaven (ibid.).
The professor of history at Lakehead
University stated that to his knowledge, the cult of Matsu would be
treated as a superstition by the Chinese authorities to a
superstition (2 Mar. 1995). However, the professor suspects that
Matsu worship would not be prohibited in China since it is a common
belief among the people in the coastal provinces; corroboration
could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.
However, for further information on the
cult of Matsu, please refer to the attachments. Also attached
please find an August 1994 article on religious rights in China
published in Human Rights Quarterly as well as an extract
from the 1992 Asia Watch document, Freedom of Religion on
the Chinese government's attitude towards superstitious actvities,
which may be of interest.
This response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find attached the list of
additional sources consulted in researching this information
request.
Professor at the Department of History
at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario. 2 March 1995.
Telephone interview.
Professor at the Department of History
at McGill University, Montréal. 2 March 1995. Telephone
interview.
Asia Watch. January 1992. Freedom of
Religion in China. New York: Human Rights Watch, pp. 12-13.
Human Rights Quarterly
[Cincinnati]. August 1994. Vol. 16, No. 3. Eric Kolodner.
"Religious Rights in China: A Comparison of International Human
Rights Law and Chinese Domestic Legislation," pp. 455-90.
Jordan, David K. 1972. God, Ghosts,
and Ancestors: The Folk Religion of a Taiwanese Village.
Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1, 7-8, 109, 181.
The San Francisco Examiner. 12
February 1995. Fith Edtion. "Year of the Boar Roars In; The Big
Parade; Chinatown Festival Has Become an Event Watched Around the
World." (NEXIS)
Thompson, Laurence G. 1975. 2nd ed.
Chinese Religion: An Introduction. Encino, Calif.: Dickenson
Publishing Co., p. 60.
_____. 1973. "The Cult of Matsu." The
Chinese Way in Religion. Compiled by Laurence G. Thompson.
Encino, Calif.: Dickenson Publishing Co., pp. 196-201.
Amnesty International country file.
1993-present.
Asia Watch. June 1993. Continuing
Religious Repressions in China.
Contemporary Religions: A World
Guide. 1992.
U.S. Department of State Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993. 1994.
DIRB country file. April
1994-present.
The Encyclopedia of Religion.
1987.
Etat des religions dans le monde.
1987.
Massé, Hervé. 1982.
Dictionnaire des sciences occultes, de
l'ésotérisme et des arts divinatoires.
Mather, A. George and Larry Nichols.
Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult.
1993.
Plume, Christian and Xavier Pasquin.
1984. Encyclopédie des sectes dans le monde.
Thiollier, Marguerite-Marie. 1971.
Dictionnaires des religions.
Journal of Chinese Religions
[Annandale-on-Hudson, NY]. Fall 1992-Fall 1994.
Other reference books available at the
Morissette Library of the Ottawa University.