Ma-tsu

The armed forces of 470,000 include about 330,000 soldiers. There is also a militia of 100,000. The Army has Hawk and Nike-Hercules missiles. Eighty thousand troops are deployed on Quemoy and Ma-tsu islands, within swimming distance of China's Amoy harbor. Army reserves total about 1 million.

1980, Russell Warren Howe, “Orders of Battle, Balances of Power”, in Weapons: The International Game of Arms, Money and Diplomacy, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 177

Since 1949, Taiwan has remained under Nationalist (Kuomintang) control along with the off-shore islands of Chin-men (Kinmen) and Ma-tsu (Lien-chiang County) in Fujian Province. Chin-men and Lien-chiang County are to end their period of direct military rule and to elect their first country magistrates in 1993.

1992, Richard Louis Edmonds, “The Changing Geography of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau”, in Graham P. Chapman, Kathleen M. Baker, editors, The Changing Geography of Asia, Routledge, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 160

Early settlers of Taiwan in the 17th century came from coastal communities in China, and through the process of "incense division" [fen-hsiang]. brought images of Ma-tsu with them from mainland "mother" temples.

1996, Arvind Sharma, Katherine K. Young, The Annual Review of Women in World Religions: Volume IV, page 165

The effect of religious beliefs on the merchant's behavior may also be explored by examining the local cult of the Heavenly Consort (Ma-tsu or T'ien-hou).

2000, Billy Kee Long So, Jilang Su, Prosperity, Region, and Institutions in Maritime China, page 269

The worship of important goddesses such as Ma-tsu (familiarly known as “Granny”), Pi- hsia Yüan-chün (Niang-niang or “Nanny”), and the Unborn Mother flourished after Kuan-yin became feminine during the Sung and came to serve some of the needs of Chinese people that had gone unfulfilled by the territorial and bureaucratic male gods.

2001, Chün-fang Yü, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara, page 413