A blind box series themed on Mazu, described in the release as China's most influential sea goddess, has sold more than 100 million yuan, according to Xinhua Silk Road. The series was co-developed by the Meizhou Mazu Ancestral Temple and a Shanghai-based cultural creative firm, the release said.
Designers drew on legends about nine auspicious artifacts and tokens of Mazu to create five figures representing wealth, career, academic success, safety and wish-making, the release said. Each box contains a mini "holy cup", and the release said buyers, usually young people, enjoy opening the boxes, which it describes as connecting the millennia-old Mazu belief and customs with daily life.
Chen Lin, a staff member of the temple on Meizhou Island in Putian City, Fujian Province, said in the release that some young buyers came for the designs and later learned about Mazu culture, making the boxes a window into it.
The release lists other ways young people encounter Mazu culture on Meizhou Island: travel photographs in traditional Mazu attire, Mazu-themed dramas, and streets where visitors move among non-player characters. Music students at Putian University attend Mazu Festival performances twice a year, where ancient Chinese chime bells are played, and at the university's Mazu culture digital laboratory young scholars are building a digital archive of Mazu temples and palaces worldwide to support research and preserve the intangible cultural heritage, according to the release.