This photo was taken on February 25th of 2010, in a park on Seven Star Lake in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, China. In the summer months, this fountain sprays forth water from the jar and into the mouth of the lake carp. Noteworthy is the fact that 7 Star Lake is the birth place of fish husbandry, in particular the Gold Fish and Koi. The Empress of Heaven (Tian Hou), or Ma Zu, patron god of fishermen, sailors, and maritime merchants. Aunt Lin, as she is sometimes known, emerged as a minor diety on the coast of Fujian China in the 10th Century C.E.. The cult began with a woman of the Lin Family who took thought for the safety of mariners. Gradually she became a goddess incorporated into the pantheon through established bureaucratic procedures not unlike the validation of saints in the Catholic Church. The Emperor too formal notice of the service of the goddess to the state and conferred honorable titles upon her, beginning in 1156 C.E.. In 1278 she was commended �Goddess� by no less than Kubilai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan. By 1409 she was the Celestial Concubine which protected the people. The Qing (pronounced Ching) Emperors from Manchuria, as they sought to control the southern coast, made her more important. Finally 1737 the Qing Qian Long, Emperor of China, made her Empress of Heaven. In Taiwan there were official and unofficial temples to this goddess, who became the patron of several merchant guilds with interests in Fujian, as well as with the pirates who preyed upon merchants. I hope you enjoy viewing her as much as I did taking the shot.