In the latter half of the 10th century, a woman who served as no more than a local priestess on the coast of Fujian province in China became an object to faith to regional seafarers and their protector goddess. That is the origin of Maso. Her faith has now spread beyond China to Taiwan and Southeast Asia, where Maso shrines can be found and where she is worshipped not only as a goddess of the sea but of profit in general. Maso affords us a wider view of the East Asian world from an ocean perspective.