Heritage Transmission and Multi-Actor Participation in the Mazu Spring Sacrificial Ceremony Under Tourismization: A Case Study of Meizhou Island, China

This study examines how intangible heritage value is sustained through differentiated participation in tourismized ritual festivals and how visitors retrospectively perceive public presentation. Using the Mazu Spring Sacrificial Ceremony on Meizhou Island, China, as a case, the analysis draws on documents, contextual non-participant observation, and semi-structured interviews conducted in 2021 and 2024 with 38 participants: 30 core interviewees from Temple Board personnel, local residents, and university student performers, and eight visitors treated as an exploratory component. Findings suggest that the Temple Board provides coordination, procedural standardization, and official public presentation; residents connect the ceremony to community life and communicate locally grounded meanings; and students support embodied performance and large-scale presentation. Within the actors and materials examined, procedural authority and formal narrative authority remain concentrated in the Temple Board. Visitors described the ceremony as solemn, sacred, festive, or emotionally moving, while detailed cultural understanding was associated with prior religious knowledge or local explanation. Overall, heritage value appears to be sustained through institutional coordination, embodied performance, local interpretation, and visitor reception. In this case, authenticity appears to be mediated through institutional validation, ritual performance, and local interpretation, while expanded participation does not necessarily redistribute procedural authority or formal narrative authority.