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Some 13,000 worshippers, including more than 10,000 from Taiwan, at the sacrifice offering ceremony to Mazu. [Cai Hao / for China Daily]
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Zhang gave special praised to the efforts made by the Taiwan Mazu Fellowship in strengthening cross-Straits ties.
The association organized delegates representing more than 400 Mazu temples in Taiwan to attend the cultural week this year.
Some 13,000 people participated in the opening ceremony and the following sacrifice offering to Mazu, including 8,660 participants directly from Taiwan and more than 2,000 Taiwanese living on the Chinese mainland.
According to Lin Jinbang, board chairman of the Mazu Ancestral Temple in Meizhou, there are more than 17 million believers in Taiwan.
And he said the ancestral temple is visited by more than 200,000 Taiwanese every year.
"Mazu is now the most influential facilitator of cross-Straits exchanges, bringing people on the two sides of the Straits ever closer in recent years," Lin said.
Zhang Zhijun of the Taiwan Affairs Office said he greatly values the cultural exchange focusing on Mazu worship because the goddess represents a spirit of "cherishing peace, helping the needy, advocating universal love and unselfish giving".
"All these represent the traditional values of the Chinese people - both on the mainland and in Taiwan," he said.
"We should actively promote the Mazu culture to build a common spiritual home for people on both sides of the Straits," Zhang added.
He noted that as cross-Straits ties grow steadily, more opportunities await.
"There are also challenges and difficulties ahead," Zhang said. "But we are bothers and sisters with the same blood and the same belief. We can overcome the challenges with concerted efforts and the blessing of Mazu," he added.
The Mazu Cultural Week, which ended on June 15, is an important part of the ongoing Straits Forum that opened on June 14 in Xiamen, Fujian province.
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