The 15th Strait Forum-Chen Jinggu Cultural Festival kicked off on November 18 at the Linshui Palace Ancestor Temple in Gutian County, Ningde City of southeast China's Fujian Province.

Guests and believers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait gathered at the temple to experience the folklore belief of the goddess together and promote cross-Strait cultural cohesion.

Chen Jinggu, the lady of Linshui, has been worshiped as a guardian of pregnant women and children and attracted many believers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

After about a thousand years of inheritance, the Chen Jinggu folk culture has become an important part of traditional Chinese culture on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, said Liu Xianxiang, Vice Chairman of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Gutian County is the birthplace of the Chen Jinggu folk culture. In the 1980s, fellow townspeople from Gutian who lived in Taiwan organized groups to return to the temple for incense offerings, initiating the prelude to cultural exchange activities mediated by belief in Chen Jinggu. For over 30 years, Chen Jinggu folk culture has drawn closer cultural unity across the Taiwan strait.

Gutian has taken measures to protect and inherit the Chen Jinggu folk culture and has held 12 consecutive cultural festivals, building a bridge of connection to enhance the cultural unity on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, said Zhang Chenghui, party chief of Gutian County.

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