Follow the small road along the northern bank of the Phú Hài River in the area of the old Dinh Market, where freshwater flowing down from the upper reaches meets the salt tide rising from Phan Thiết Bay, and you will come upon a complex of curved yin-yang tubular tile roofs gleaming with glazed ceramic colors, standing quietly facing the river wharf. Atop the main ridge sit a pair of dragons flanking the moon pearl and intricate polychrome ceramic reliefs depicting the Eight Immortals, flowers, and birds in traditional East Asian palace style. This is Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple (Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu Phú Hài), bearing the Chinese title Thiên Hậu Cung (天后宮) on its horizontal boards and reverently called Dinh Bà Thiên Hậu Phú Hài by local residents for generations.
Founded in the Ất Tỵ year 1725 (the third year of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty, corresponding to the late reign of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu and the early reign of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Trú in Đàng Trong), this is one of the two oldest Thiên Hậu temples in the far South Central coast of Vietnam, alongside the Thiên Hậu Temple at the Phan Rí seaport founded in the same year 1725. Across three centuries witnessing the bustling boat-and-wharf commerce of the Phố Hài seaport during the southward pioneering era, the dramatic historical upheavals of the twentieth century, and the major reconstruction at the dawn of the twenty-first century, this ancient shrine has remained a profound spiritual anchor for generations of Chinese merchants and Vietnamese fishermen before every voyage out to sea.
IThiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu and the convergence of Hoa and Việt maritime beliefs at the Phố Hài estuary
Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple belongs to the religious tradition honoring Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu (天后聖母, Empress of Heaven, Mazu), the supreme maritime protectress in the consciousness of East Asian coastal communities closely connected with Taoism and Chinese folk religion. Although residents of South Central and Southern Vietnam affectionately call the site Chùa Bà (Lady Pagoda) or Dinh Bà (Lady Palace), in terms of religious studies it is a deity temple (cung or miếu) dedicated to the goddess of the sea and benevolent guardian spirits of merchant vessels rather than a Buddhist monastery.
According to the standard hagiography preserved by Chinese communities from Fujian, Guangdong, Teochew, and Hainan (known as the Mazu belief system), Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu was a historical person named Lâm Mặc Nương (林默娘, Lin Moniang), the sixth daughter of Lâm Nguyện (Lin Yuan, who served as an inspector during the Five Dynasties period), born on the 23rd day of the 3rd lunar month in the first year of the Jianlong era under Emperor Taizu of Northern Song (the Canh Thân year 960) on Meizhou Island, Putian County, Xinghua Prefecture, Fujian Province. Tradition holds that she did not cry for an entire month after birth, prompting her parents to name her Mặc (meaning silent or tranquil). From her youth, Lâm Mặc Nương mastered Taoist and Buddhist scriptures, understood astronomy, meteorology, and healing arts, and possessed spiritual powers allowing her spirit to fly across the sea on a reed mat during fierce night storms to guide and rescue shipwrecked merchant boats and fishermen. On the 9th day of the 9th lunar month in the fourth year of the Yongxi era (the Đinh Hợi year 987), at the age of twenty-eight, she ascended the mountain on Meizhou Island and rose to heaven, subsequently manifesting miracles across the ocean.
When examining classical Vietnamese geographical gazetteers recording the Thiên Hậu temple in old Bình Thuận, there is an intriguing discrepancy regarding the surname of the goddess that must be faithfully noted for scholarly comparison. The official imperial geography compiled by the National History Institute of the Nguyễn Dynasty, Đại Nam nhất thống chí (in the volume on Bình Thuận Province, section on Temples and Shrines, cited in the research of Master Nguyễn Xuân Lý, former Director of the Bình Thuận General Museum, published in Lâm Đồng Newspaper), records verbatim: The Temple of Thiên Hậu: a native of Fujian in China, originally a daughter of the Ôn family, who possessed the gift of summoning wind and rain and once flew out to sea to rescue people in distress. She was invested with titles by the Song and Ming dynasties, and the Qing dynasty conferred upon her the title Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu. Thus, while Chinese guild genealogies and the scripture Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu bản truyện uniformly record her surname as Lâm (Lâm Mặc Nương), the Nguyễn Dynasty court historiographers in Bình Thuận recorded her as a daughter of the Ôn clan. The Hall of Myriad Paths library presents both textual sources so that readers and researchers can grasp the full local textual history.
Across successive northern imperial dynasties, the sea goddess of Meizhou Island was elevated through royal decrees from the rank of Lady (Phu nhân) under Emperors Huizong and Gaozong of Song, to Imperial Concubine of Heaven (Thiên Phi) under Emperor Shizu of Yuan and Emperor Chengzu of Ming, and finally to the supreme title of Empress of Heaven (Thiên Hậu, 天后) in the 19th and 23rd years of the Kangxi reign (1680 and 1684) and Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu during the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. Following Chinese migrant fleets into Đàng Trong in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the worship of Thiên Hậu at the Phú Hài estuary blended deeply with indigenous Vietnamese Mother Goddess worship and maritime deities (such as the worship of the Whale God Nam Hải Cự Tộc Ngọc Lân Tôn Thần at fishing village shrines and Thiên Y A Na Thánh Mẫu), to the point that the Nguyễn Dynasty emperors also granted royal decrees recognizing her among the Supreme Deities (Thượng đẳng thần) who keep the seas calm.
In the spiritual life of fishermen and maritime traders at the Phố Hài and Phan Thiết ports over the past three hundred years, Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu is not a distant celestial authority but a compassionate mother watching over every sail upon the open sea. Her solemn enthroned image in the main tabernacle, flanked by her two subdued martial attendants, Thiên Lý Nhãn (千里眼, Thousand-Mile Eye, who sees through mist and waves a thousand miles away) and Thuận Phong Nhĩ (順風耳, With-the-Wind Ear, who hears every cry for help carried on the storm wind), embodies boundless compassion that leaves no living being abandoned amidst the vast ocean.
Many visitors arriving in the former city of Phan Thiết only know of Quan Đế Miếu (Chùa Ông Phan Thiết) in the former Đức Nghĩa Ward or Vạn Thủy Tú Palace dedicated to the Whale God, without realizing that Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple (founded in 1725) was established more than half a century earlier than Chùa Ông Phan Thiết (founded in 1778). Notably, the nearly 300-year-old wooden statue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu currently co-venerated in the central hall of Chùa Ông Phan Thiết originated directly from this Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple during the historical upheavals of the mid-twentieth century.
IIThree centuries from the 1725 Dinh Market seaport at the Phố Hài estuary to the early twenty-first century reconstruction
The formation of Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple is inextricably linked with the southward expansion under the Nguyễn Lords and the golden age of the Phố Hài (Phú Hài) maritime trading port in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
According to the chronicles of Đàng Trong, following the Ất Tỵ year (1679) when Ming-loyalist Chinese generals Dương Ngạn Địch, Hoàng Tiến, Trần Thượng Xuyên, and Trần An Bình brought their fleets to submit to Lord Hiền Nguyễn Phúc Tần (1648 - 1687) and were settled in Đông Phố (Gia Định, Biên Hòa, Mỹ Tho), in the Nhâm Thân year (1692) and Đinh Sửu year (1697) Lord Minh Nguyễn Phúc Chu (1691 - 1725) formally established Thuận Thành Garrison, subsequently renamed Bình Thuận Prefecture. Along with this administrative opening, Chinese merchant junks belonging to the Fujian, Guangdong, Teochew, and Hainan congregations sailed into the three major estuaries of Bình Thuận, namely Phan Rí, Phố Hài (Phú Hài), and Phan Thiết, to establish trading markets and permanent settlements.
Historical geographical records note that in the early eighteenth century, the Phố Hài (Phú Hài) estuary was a wide seaport measuring 60.5 trượng (approximately 242 meters) across, nearly three times wider than the Phan Thiết estuary at that time (which measured only 21 trượng). Thanks to its deep and broad channel, large sea-going junks from Fujian and Guangdong sailed directly into the Phú Hài River, creating a bustling scene of boats on the water and wharves on the shore. Two major markets grew along the Phú Hài River: Cửa Market (Chợ Cửa) near the river mouth and Dinh Market (Chợ Dinh) further inland along the boundary between present-day Phú Hài and Phú Long. At the Dinh Market wharf, Chinese junks imported silk, porcelain, paper, brushes, and traditional northern medicine while purchasing local fish sauce, dried fish, precious timber, and forest products for export.
Right beside that thriving Dinh Market wharf, in the Ất Tỵ year 1725 (the third year of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty, coinciding with the transition from Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu to Lord Nguyễn Phúc Trú), Chinese merchants and local Vietnamese residents in Phú Hài joined forces to build Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Palace. Regarding the miraculous event that prompted the founding of the shrine in 1725, local oral tradition in Phú Hài preserves two complementary accounts. The first account (recorded in the historical research of Master Nguyễn Xuân Lý) relates that a Chinese merchant junk had finished loading cargo at Dinh Market as usual, but when it turned its bow to sail out through the Phố Hài estuary, the vessel spun in circles and could not exit the river mouth until the captain set up an incense altar on the riverbank to pray to Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu and vowed to build a shrine, whereupon favorable winds carried the ship out to sea. The second account tells of a Fujian trading junk damaged in a storm that pulled onto the bank of the Phú Hài River for repairs, the captain carried the precious wooden statue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu from the ship's cabin onto a high earthen mound beside the river while work proceeded. When repairs were completed, even a group of strong men could not lift the statue to carry her back aboard. Believing the Goddess had chosen this sacred riverside mound at Dinh Market as her seat of blessing, the captain and merchant community erected a shrine on the spot in 1725.
In the Giáp Ngọ year 1774, as commerce at Dinh Market reached its peak, Chinese and Vietnamese merchants in Phú Hài contributed funds for a major expansion that transformed the early shrine into a grand palace in classical Chinese architectural style, known popularly ever since as Dinh Bà Thiên Hậu or Chùa Bà Phú Hài. Through the nineteenth century under the Nguyễn Dynasty (from Emperors Gia Long and Minh Mạng to Tự Đức), the temple was repeatedly maintained, granted imperial decrees, and enriched with bronze bells and Han-Nom horizontal boards and parallel sentences. However, around the mid-twentieth century (between 1940 and 1946), a severe fire during wartime turmoil (which left the area near Phước Môn Communal House and Dinh Market with the folk name Chùa Cháy, or Burned Temple) destroyed the ancient timber structure. To safeguard its sacred heritage, Chinese elders in Phú Hài carried the eighteenth-century wooden statue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu (originally brought from Fujian) along with ritual vessels to be co-venerated at Quan Đế Miếu (Chùa Ông Phan Thiết in former Đức Nghĩa Ward). After decades in which the old foundation lay in ruins, between 1995 and 2003, with approval from local authorities, the Management Board of Quan Đế Miếu (Chùa Ông Phan Thiết) together with Hoa and Việt residents of Phú Hài reconstructed Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple on its exact ancient riverside foundation, restoring the solemn complex seen today.
- 1679 - 1697Chinese merchants settle at the Phố Hài estuary and Bình Thuận Prefecture is formedAfter the Nguyễn Lords permitted Chinese pioneers to settle the south (1679) and Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu established Bình Thuận Prefecture (1697), merchant junks frequented the 60.5-trượng (242-meter) Phố Hài estuary, forming Cửa Market and Dinh Market.
- 1725Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Palace is founded (Ất Tỵ year, 3rd year of Yongzheng)Chinese merchants and local fishermen erected the temple to Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu on a high mound beside the Phú Hài River near Dinh Market, in the same year as the Thiên Hậu temple in Phan Rí.
- 1774Major expansion into the grand Dinh Bà Thiên HậuIn the Giáp Ngọ year (1774), Hoa and Việt merchants funded a large-scale expansion in classical Chinese palace style to enshrine the wooden statue of the Goddess brought from Fujian.
- 19th centuryGranted Nguyễn Dynasty royal decrees and recorded in Đại Nam nhất thống chíNguyễn emperors conferred royal decrees honoring Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu, and the National History Institute officially recorded the Thiên Hậu temples of Phú Hài and Phan Rí in the imperial gazetteer Đại Nam nhất thống chí.
- 1940 - 1946The old timber temple suffers fire damage and the antique statue moves to Chùa Ông Phan ThiếtWhen the timber structure at Dinh Market was severely damaged by fire in the mid-twentieth century, the Chinese community transferred the nearly 300-year-old statue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu to Quan Đế Miếu (Chùa Ông Phan Thiết) for safekeeping.
- 1995 - 2003Full reconstruction of Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple on its ancient foundationThe Management Board of Quan Đế Miếu (Chùa Ông Phan Thiết) and local Hoa and Việt residents rebuilt the entire Thiên Hậu Palace complex on its original riverside plot in Phú Hài.
- 2025Incorporated into Phú Thủy Ward, new Lâm Đồng ProvinceUnder Resolution No. 202/2025/QH15 and Resolution No. 1671/NQ-UBTVQH15 dated 16 June 2025, Phú Hài Ward merged with Thanh Hải Ward and Phú Thủy Ward to form Phú Thủy Ward of Lâm Đồng Province.
IIIPalace architecture with yin-yang tubular tiles, the Fujian antique statue heritage and co-veneration altars
The present complex of Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple was faithfully reconstructed on its ancient riverside foundation following the traditional palace and temple architectural canons of coastal Fujian and Guangdong Chinese communities. Viewed from the outside, the monument makes a striking impression with its imposing triple-arched gateway (tam quan) and tiered roofs covered in yin-yang tubular tiles glazed in jade green and imperial yellow. The corner eaves sweep high into the sky, while the center of the main roof ridge is crowned with polychrome ceramic reliefs depicting Two Dragons Flanking the Flaming Pearl (Lưỡng long tranh châu), accompanied on either side by carp leaping the Dragon Gate to become dragons (cá hóa long), phoenixes, qilin, the Eight Immortals, the Eight Treasures, and scenes from classical Chinese lore.
Crossing the spacious brick-paved courtyard where the great incense burner and restoration stelae stand, visitors enter the Front Hall and Main Sanctuary. Tall round columns painted vermilion support intricately carved roof trusses and red-and-gold lacquered Han-Nom horizontal boards and parallel sentences praising the maritime salvific virtue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu, with inscriptions such as Mẫu nghi thiên hạ (Motherly model of the world), Hải quốc an lan (Calm waves across the maritime realm), and Đức trạch phối thiên (Virtue and grace matching Heaven).
The nearly 300-year-old Fujian statue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu and the Hoa-Việt co-veneration pantheon
At the center of the upper sanctuary of Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple stands an ornate wooden tabernacle carved with dragons, phoenixes, and peonies, enshrining the statue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu robed in imperial empress vestments, wearing a nine-dragon crown with hanging pearl tassels, holding a jade ritual tablet, her countenance radiating serene maternal benevolence. From the standpoint of antique heritage, as local historical records note, the original eighteenth-century precious wood statue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu brought directly from Fujian (China) to Phú Hài was transferred for safekeeping and co-veneration to the central sanctuary of Quan Đế Miếu (Chùa Ông Phan Thiết) in the 1940s when the old Phú Hài temple suffered fire damage, forging an inseparable spiritual bond between Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple and Chùa Ông Phan Thiết.
The arrangement of secondary altars inside Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple reflects the prayers of a seaport community for safety, prosperity, and children. Standing in attendance on either side of the main tabernacle of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu are her two guardians, Thiên Lý Nhãn (green-complexioned, shading his brow to gaze a thousand miles) and Thuận Phong Nhĩ (red-complexioned, cupping his ear to listen to the wind). The left and right bays and side altars honor Kim Hoa Thánh Mẫu (Lady of Childbirth, Bà Chúa Thai Sanh Nương Nương, protectress of mothers and infants), Phước Đức Chánh Thần (Ông Bổn, the Earth and Wealth Deity), the Water Kings and Dragon Kings (Thủy Vương Công Khanh) governing rivers and seas, and the altar to the Founding Pioneers (Tiền hiền khai khẩn, Hậu hiền khai cơ) of both the Hoa and Việt communities who established the Phú Hài market port in the early eighteenth century.
Traditional gateway and tiered roofs covered with glazed tubular tiles, crowned with polychrome ceramic reliefs of twin dragons flanking the pearl, carp turning into dragons, and classical motifs.
The focal point of the main hall housing the statue of Empress Thiên Hậu in imperial robes, flanked by her two guardian generals who see a thousand miles and hear with the wind.
The nearly 300-year-old wooden statue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu brought from Fujian to Phú Hài in the eighteenth century, preserved intact at Quan Đế Miếu Phan Thiết since the 1940s alongside antique Qing-era bronze bells.
Left and right altars honoring the goddess who protects childbirth and children alongside the patron deity of land, commerce, and community prosperity.
Gilded wooden plaques and couplets extolling the Goddess who calms the waves and shelters the people, together with stone inscriptions documenting the temple's history from 1725 to 2003.
IVThe lie of the land and the facing
This section is the library's own reading through the eyes of traditional form-school feng shui on the actual estuarine and coastal terrain of Phú Hài, not something written in the temple's stelae. We state this clearly so that readers can distinguish historical records from geographical feng shui interpretation.
Examined on the hydrographic map of the Phan Thiết coast at coordinates 10.94528 degrees North latitude and 108.14215 degrees East longitude, the site of Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple exemplifies the eighteenth-century Chinese maritime principle of site selection: guarding the water mouth (trấn thủy khẩu) and gathering the bright hall (minh đường) at a tidal river bend. The temple stands on a firm, elevated earthen mound along the northern bank of the lower Phú Hài River (Cái Phú Hài River), right where the river curves gently around the historic Dinh Market area before flowing past Phú Hài Bridge to empty into the Phố Hài estuary and Phan Thiết Bay. In traditional form-school feng shui (Loan đầu), a river bend that curves inward in an embrace forms the pattern of curved water paying court to the hall (Khúc thủy triều đường), and the meeting point where freshwater flowing down from the upper Hàm Thuận basin mingles with the saltwater tide rising from the East Sea constitutes the most potent node (huyệt) for gathering qi and commercial prosperity across the entire estuary.
In terms of mountain backing, facing, and the four emblems, Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple rests its back against the sand ridge and ancient settlement to the north and northeast as its rear backing (hậu chẩm) sheltering it from cold northern winds, while opening its main facade toward the South and Southwest directly facing the waters of the Phú Hài River as its inner bright hall (nội minh đường) and looking out toward Phan Thiết Bay as its outer bright hall (ngoại minh đường). Facing South and Southwest along the South Central coast receives the benevolent sea breezes while looking directly toward the navigation channel through which merchant junks and fishing boats entered the Phố Hài estuary from the open sea. On the Azure Dragon side on the left (east and southeast) rises the coastal hill ridge extending toward Ông Hoàng Pavilion and the ancient Champa temple-towers of Pô Sah Inư standing sentinel over the estuary atop Bà Nài Hill, while on the White Tiger side on the right (west and northwest) stretches the alluvial plain of the Phú Hài River connecting Dinh Market and Phú Long. Placing the temple of the Sea Goddess right at the throat of the waterway beneath the ancient Pô Sah Inư hill allowed the shrine to draw in abundant water qi while providing spiritual protection for every vessel entering and leaving the port.
VThe grand festival of Lady Thiên Hậu on the 23rd day of the 3rd lunar month and its bond with the Phan Thiết Nghinh Ông festival
Every year, Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple observes several traditional sacrificial rites according to the lunar calendar, the most important being the Grand Festival of Lady Thiên Hậu (celebrating the birthday of the Goddess on the 23rd day of the 3rd lunar month), alongside its close connection with the Nghinh Ông Quan Thánh Đế Quân festival of the Hoa and Việt communities in Phan Thiết.
| Lunar date | Festival name | Traditional rituals and cultural activities |
|---|---|---|
| 15th day of the 1st lunar month | First Full Moon (Thượng Nguyên) peace-prayer rite | Hoa and Việt residents and fishermen of the Phú Hài and Phan Thiết coast gather to offer incense, light large spiral incense coils beneath the ceiling, and pray for national peace, calm seas, and safe fishing voyages throughout the year. |
| 23rd day of the 3rd lunar month | Grand Festival of Lady Thiên Hậu (Birthday of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu) | The principal annual festival of the temple: performing the bathing rite (changing the robes and crown of the Goddess), solemn sacrificial ceremonies by the ritual committee, offerings of roast pig and three-animal sacrifices, lion and dragon dances, and distributing peace blessings to worshippers. |
| Mid-7th lunar month (held biennially in even-numbered years) | Phan Thiết Nghinh Ông Quan Thánh Festival and Vu Lan Rite | The four Chinese congregations carry sacred palanquins accompanied by lion, dragon, and Eight Treasures troupes through the streets of Phan Thiết (where the antique Phú Hài Thiên Hậu statue is co-venerated at Chùa Ông), combined with seventh-month offerings for wandering souls at the temple. |
| 9th day of the 9th lunar month | Commemoration of the Ascension of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu | Incense-offering ceremony commemorating the day the Goddess ascended to heaven on Meizhou Island and thanksgiving rites at the close of the stormy season. |
On the annual festival day of the 23rd of the 3rd lunar month, beneath fragrant clouds of sandalwood smoke curling from large spiral incense coils suspended from the timber ceiling and the vibrant drums of lion and dragon troupes along the bank of the Phú Hài River, both ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese worshippers clasp their hands before the altar of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu. The enduring presence of this ancient shrine from 1725 to the present day stands as a living testament to the deep solidarity between the two communities who labored side by side to clear the land, establish markets, and safeguard the seas of the far South Central coast.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Đường Võ Dân, khu phố 1, phường Phú Thủy (phường Phú Hài cũ, thành phố Phan Thiết cũ, tỉnh Bình Thuận cũ), tỉnh Lâm Đồng
- Getting there
- From the urban center of Phan Thiết, follow Thủ Khoa Huân Boulevard or Võ Nguyên Giáp Road northeast toward Mũi Né for about 6 kilometers to the Phú Hài Bridge area in Phú Thủy Ward (formerly Phú Hài Ward), then turn onto Võ Dân Road along the northern bank of the Phú Hài River for a few hundred meters to reach the gate of Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple.
- Coordinates
- 10.94528, 108.14215
When visiting Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple, you are entering an active and solemn place of worship of the coastal community. Please dress modestly and respectfully, step through the side doors rather than treading directly upon the wooden threshold of the main hall, maintain quiet order when lighting incense at the outdoor and indoor censers, and refrain from touching the statues, antique bronze bells, and ritual vessels on the altars.
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?Quick Questions
When was Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple built and what legend is tied to its founding?
The temple was founded in the Ất Tỵ year 1725 (third year of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty, late in the reign of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu) beside the Dinh Market trading wharf and the old Phố Hài estuary, and underwent a major expansion in 1774. Local legend relates that a Chinese merchant junk pulled onto the Phú Hài riverbank for repairs and placed the statue of the Goddess on a riverside mound, after which the statue became too heavy to carry back aboard, or that a trading ship could not sail out of the estuary until prayers were offered to the Goddess, prompting merchants to build the temple on that spot.
Why do some historical records give the surname of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu as Lâm while others record Ôn?
According to the standard Mazu hagiography of Fujian and Chinese guild halls, Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu was born Lâm Mặc Nương (Lin Moniang, born in 960 on Meizhou Island, Putian County, Fujian Province, daughter of Lâm Nguyện). However, the Nguyễn Dynasty imperial gazetteer Đại Nam nhất thống chí, in its entry on the Thiên Hậu temples of Bình Thuận Province, records verbatim that she was a daughter of the Ôn family of Fujian who could summon wind and rain to rescue people at sea. This article faithfully records both historical sources.
Where is the nearly 300-year-old wooden statue of Lady Thiên Hậu from Phú Hài Temple kept today?
Around the mid-twentieth century (between 1940 and 1946), when the ancient timber Dinh Bà Thiên Hậu at Dinh Market in Phú Hài suffered severe fire damage, Chinese elders transferred the eighteenth-century precious wood statue of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu (originally brought from Fujian) for safekeeping and co-veneration to the central sanctuary of Quan Đế Miếu (Chùa Ông Phan Thiết). Between 1995 and 2003, Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple was reconstructed on its original riverside foundation.
When does the largest annual festival at Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple take place?
The most important annual celebration is the Grand Festival of Lady Thiên Hậu on the 23rd day of the 3rd lunar month (marking the birthday of Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu), featuring the ceremonial bathing and robing of the statue, traditional sacrificial rites, offerings, and lion and dragon dances. The temple also holds major rites on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, the 9th day of the 9th lunar month (her ascension day), and participates in the biennial Phan Thiết Nghinh Ông Quan Thánh Festival.
Following the 2025 administrative reorganization, which ward and province does Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple belong to?
Prior to 1 July 2025, the monument was located in Quarter 1, Phú Hài Ward, Phan Thiết City, Bình Thuận Province. Pursuant to National Assembly Resolution No. 202/2025/QH15 (merging Lâm Đồng, Bình Thuận, and Đắk Nông into the new Lâm Đồng Province) and Standing Committee Resolution No. 1671/NQ-UBTVQH15 dated 16 June 2025 (merging Phú Hài, Thanh Hải, and Phú Thủy wards into Phú Thủy Ward), Phú Hài Thiên Hậu Temple now belongs to Phú Thủy Ward, Lâm Đồng Province.