感谢美国俄亥俄大学邵友保海外华人文献研究中心主任郭根维博士提供以下信息。
Jonathan H.X. Lee proudly presents a Documentary Film
Happy Birthday Mazu
Empress of Heaven, Goddess of the Sea
Synopsis
This film explores the emerging transnational Empress of Heaven community in San Francisco Chinatown,
among new immigrant Taiwanese-Americans. Tianhou, the Empress of Heaven, popularly known as Mazu
(meaning “Mother Ancestor” or “Granny”) in Taiwan, is represented as Meiguo Mazu (“American Mazu”) and
resides at the Ma-tsu Temple U.S.A. in San Francisco’s Chinatown. This film documents recent developments
in transnational pilgrimage rituals linking Beigang, Taiwan to San Francisco. The appropriation of San
Francisco’s Chinese New Year Parade by the temple to accommodate the annual Empress of Heaven
“inspection tour” (raojing) ritual is explored. Both rituals authenticate religious, ethnic, cultural, community,
and national identities, and reflect the multiple identities found within the Taiwanese-American community.
This film illustrates how traditional religion is altered and adjusted to meet the demands of contemporary life, in
Taiwan and America. In addition, it speaks to the importance of religion in the formation of a community in the
diaspora. It questions conventional definitions and conceptions of “sacred” versus “profane,” and “pilgrimage”
versus “tourism.” The future contours of American civil religion and society is explored in light of the
transnationalization of American identity in a globalizing world. How have changes in immigration policy,
conditions of late capitalism, and the forces of globalization able to transform a local goddess cult from the rural
township of Taiwan, to a transnational cult? What happens to rituals and religious experience when religion,
technology, and sensory experiences are combined in new and previously unimaginable ways?
Film length: 35 mins
Discussion topics: transnational religion, gender and religion, Chinese-American religion, American civil
society, sacred and secular, pilgrimage, tourism, popular religion, vernacular religion, sacred space, rituals,
identity formation, diaspora religion, and Chinese-American culture work.
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Special Pre-Production Offer (Offer ends November 15, 2008)
DVD student rate with copy of current I.D. $20.00 (post-production $29.95) _____x____ = ____
DVD general rate $25.00 (post-production $29.95) _____x____ = ____
DVD institutional rate $55.00 (post-production $75.95) _____x____ = ____
Include $3.99 for shipping and handling for each DVD _____x____ = ____
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1182 Poli Street
Ventura, CA 93001
U.S.A.
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Production December 15, 2008
About the filmmaker:
Jonathan H.X. Lee holds a doctoral degree in East Asian religions, with specialized interest in Chinese religions
from the department of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara. His current research and publication centers on
Chinese and Chinese-American religious communities, in particular on the Taiwanese-American Mazu cult.
