Full bibliography

Since the avowedly Catholic Portuguese officially settled in 1557, Macao has been fervently brought into contact with the monotheistic Christian faith. Despite the evangelical zeal of missionaries, the majority of the local population has traditionally embraced a religious culture that richly exhibits polytheism and the syncretism of disparate beliefs. The dynamics and complexity of religious syncretism are deftly epitomized in Tianhou, Guanyin, Guandi, and Nuwa, who are enshrined in four notable temples in Macao. In hagiographies, Tianhou—the autochthonous Daoist Goddess of the Sea—and Guanyin—the Avalokitesvara-incarnated Buddhist Goddess of Mercy—were living maidens. They adamantly defied patriarchal authority to be married and died premature deaths. Their ‘undefiled’ virgin bodies duly became quintessential in their paths to ascending to sainthood. Guandi, a historical warrior with flagrant human flaws, was elevated as a ‘divine-human’ to embody the ideal of masculinity that hailed excellence in both literary attainment and martial valor. These three mortals were systematically forged as immortals by statecraft for inclusion into the state-sanctioned religion. In Chinese mythical history, the were-snake Nuwa is the creatrix of the cosmos and the Chinese people. This great goddess fails to stand the test of time, and her worldly roles have been modified, though she still retains her elemental grandeur in the supernatural realm.