The Tianhou Palace is located in the center of Shidao Town. It faces south and is a three-entry temple-style structure with a rigorous and unique layout and a simple and spectacular shape. Tianhou Palaces can be seen in many fishing villages in China. According to legend, Lin Mo, the Heavenly Empress, was the descendant of a prime minister in the Yin Dynasty. She lived in Xianliang Port, Putian, Fujian. Her father, Lin Yuan, was the patrol envoy of Nanmin and Quanzhou. The family was wealthy. Her mother gave birth to this daughter on March 23 in the first year of Jianlong of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty. Because she still didn’t cry after a full month, she was named ‘Mo’. Lin Mo could understand the meaning of texts at the age of seven. At the age of 12, a Taoist priest named Xuan Tong taught her mysterious and subtle methods. On the day when Lin Mo was 15 years old, her father and elder brother encountered wind and waves when they went out to sea. At that time, she was weaving at home. Suddenly, she closed her eyes, held a shuttle in her hand, stepped on a bamboo stick, and her face was abnormal. When her mother woke her up, the shuttle fell to the ground. She said, ‘My father is out of danger, but my brother has sunk into the sea.’ The next day, after verifying the facts, it was just as she said. So people called her a goddess. On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month when she was 28 years old, she bid farewell to all her sisters and crossed the sea to the peak of Meizhou Island. People heard faint sounds of drums and music. When they saw colorful clouds flying away, she disappeared. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Wang Yide from Hongtong County, Shanxi Province, built the Tianhou Palace here in the 16th year of Qianlong. The palace is divided into three entrances. It was one of the larger temples in the Jiaodong area at that time. It is said that there was an endless stream of pilgrims coming to offer incense and worship at that time. It was once very prosperous but later was abandoned. In order to protect historical sites and promote national culture, at the beginning of 1991, the people of Rongcheng City invested 500,000 yuan to carefully repair the main hall, temple gate, opera tower and courtyard of the back building of the Tianhou Palace. Nowadays, there are many wonderful strange stones and famous carvings in the courtyard, attracting many tourists to watch. It is a new scenic spot in Shidao. The specific business hours are subject to the opening situation on that day.
