The worshippers caught between China and Taiwan

BBC News:

Every year, Chang Ke-chung journeys from his home in Taiwan to China to carry out a sacred duty.

He worships Mazu, a sea goddess with millions of followers in Taiwan and ethnic Chinese communities around the world. For them, a pilgrimage to Mazu’s home temple in Meizhou in southern China is an essential act of faith.

“We feel we are Mazu’s children, so it’s like we are accompanying our mother to visit her ancestral home,” said Mr Chang, who leads a Mazu temple in Taiwan.

“I’ve been to China so many times now that every time I go there, it’s like I’m home, I’m in my own country.”

Such sentiments delight Beijing but worry Taipei. They put Taiwanese worshippers at the centre of a political tug-of-war, especially with presidential and legislature elections coming up in just two weeks.

Many in Taiwan worship Mazu or other folk deities with roots in China. Religious communities in Taiwan and China share deep and emotional ties, often paying visits to each other’s temples or taking part in religious processions together.

Beijing, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own, hopes that this close-knit relationship will pay off in other ways – the more ordinary Taiwanese identify with China, the higher the chances of what it calls “peaceful reunification”.

So the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allows and encourages Taiwanese temple groups to visit the mainland through its United Front Work Department, which tightly controls religious affairs and influence operations.

Beijing’s official rhetoric pushes for stronger ties. In September, authorities called for expanding religious exchanges in a drive for “cross-strait integrated development”.

Chinese officials have personally welcomed these groups from Taiwan. In February, when prominent Taiwanese Mazu leader Cheng Ming-kun visited Beijing, he was hosted by Song Tao, the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

Mr Song called for “spiritual harmony” between China and Taiwan and more frequent exchanges to “jointly create a bright future for reunification”.