page_title: Thien Hau Temple (Ho Chi Minh City)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Thien Hau Temple (Ho Chi Minh City) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: This is the primary image of the goddess Thien Hau at Thien Hau Temple, Nguyen Trai Street, Cho Lon, Ho Chi Minh City.
context_page_description: The Thien Hau Temple, officially the Ba Thien Hau Pagoda, is a Chinese-style temple of the Chinese sea goddess Mazu on Nguyễn Trãi Street in the Cho Lon of District 5 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
context_section_description: Thiên Hậu is the Vietnamese transcription of the Chinese name Tianhou ("Empress of Heaven"), an epithet of the Chinese sea goddess Mazu, the deified form of Lin Moniang, a medieval Fujianese girl credited with saving one or some of her family members from harm during a typhoon through her spiritual power. Although officially unrecognized by both the governments of Mainland China and Taiwan, the faith is popular in the maritime southern provinces of China and, especially, on Taiwan and among the Chinese diaspora. In Vietnam, she is also sometimes known as the "Lady of the Sea" (Tuc Goi La Ba). Mazuism is frequently syncretized with Taoism and Buddhism. For example, at the Quan Am Pagoda nearby, the two main altars are dedicated to Thien Hau and Quan Am, the Vietnamese form of Guanyin, the Chinese form of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
  The temple was first erected c. 1760 by the Cantonese community in the city. It saw major repairs or expansions in 1800, 1842 (and possibly also 1847), 1882, 1890, and 1916.
caption: This image of Mazu dominates the temple's main altar.
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