Quanzhou and its surrounding area consists of shrines or temples that according to historians is part network of number of Hindu shrines and temple.
At present, there are no Hindus in Quanzhou. But there
previously existed a small Hindu community in late 13th century, mostly
situated in southeastern part of China. The inscription of bilingual Tamil and Chinese-language has been associated with the remains of a Shiva temple of Quanzhou.
Shiva temple is one of the two south Indian-style Hindu temples.
The roots of the shrine do not lie in china but from the south India.
The deity was either brought to Quanzhou by traders from Tamil Naidu,
India who worked in Quanzhou somewhat 800 years ago, or perhaps crafted
by local sculptors at their behest.
Most of the residents of the village think that deity is Guanyin the female Bodhisattva who is venerated in many parts of China. Every morning the local residents of the village pray, they light incense sticks and chant prayers unlike any deity one might find elsewhere in China.
The Hindu temple in the village collapsed 500 years ago but as local residents had belief that they still carry, goddess brought them good fortune, they dug through the ruins, saved the deity and rebuilt the temple.
The Historians believe that the Chedian shrine may have been a network of more than a 10-12 shrines or Hindu temples, including 2 big temples, built in Quanzhou & surrounding villages by a Tamil trader’s community who lived here during the era of Song dynasty (960-1279) & Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)
This port was one of the busiest ports around world at that time. It was thriving centre of regional maritime commerce
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