KUALA LUMPUR: A 1.8-metre tall statue of a Chinese sea goddess, flown via business class from Xiamen in China to Malaysia recently, will be on display at the Thean Hou Temple in KL.
Major Chinese dailies reported that the statue was brought here as part of the China-Malaysia Cultural Exchange programme.
Photos of the goddess Mazu’s statue, being flown aboard a Xiamen Airlines flight together with other passengers, had since gone viral on social media.
Two other statues - that of her guardians - were also flown in via business class on the same flight on July 1.
The photos were posted on the Selangor and Federal Territory Hainan Association's Facebook page.
Association president Dr C.Y. Tang was quoted by the media as saying that the inaugural Southeast Asia tour was organised by the Mazu ancestral temple in Meizhou, China and marks Mazu's "revisit" to the Maritime Silk Road.
The Thean Hou Temple here will host the deities during part of their stay in Malaysia, which is the first destination for the cultural exchange.
It was reported that the air tickets cost RM2,091 each.
Mazu, known as a protector of fishermen and sailors in the pantheon of Chinese deities, is touted as the most worshipped goddess in the world and the most popular goddess in the Chinese diaspora.