ABSTRACT
The Belief and Customs of Mazu was declared a UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009, providing stronger incentives for promotion of the Mazu culture by the Chinese government. Among the various sites of the cult of Mazu in China and in Taiwan we can see different levels of political involvements which impart different degrees of religious authenticity to different groups of people.
In this chapter I will argue that it is a continuum and a learning process from a religious cult to an intangible cultural heritage and the major differences between is the religious authenticity experience. I will use anthropological method (fieldwork research) and employ examples from Beigang Taiwan, Meizhou Fujian, and Haiko Hainan Island to explore this intricate relation between religion and intangible cultural heritage, and to illustrate the complexity between the sacred and the secular of the Mazu cult.
