Goddess Guanyin Enroute to Taiwan

From People's Daily Online (notice the "see how nice we play with Taiwan" touch by the Chinese government, but then, this is the propaganda newpaper geared toward English language folks)  By the way, the photo is hilarious!  The Goddess is gettng ready to do some deep sea diving  by the looks of it :)

1,000 statues of Buddhist goddess to be sent to Taiwan temples
19:38, September 27, 2010

Statues of Buddhist goddess Guanyin are seen at Laotangshan port in Zhoushan, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 27, 2010. More than 300 Chinese monks and nuns boarded an Italian passenger ship with 1,000 statues Monday to the port of Keelung in southeast China's Taiwan. The statues, which are to be given as gifts to several temples in Taiwan, are from the Putuoshan Mountain that is famous for Buddhism culture. (Xinhua/Wang Dingchang)

Guanyin is also known as Kuanyin (and various other spellings), the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, and she has been ever popular. 

Check out Seven Syllable Kuan Yin Mantra by Robin Beck - you'll see the iconography is often identical to that of the Christian Virgin Mary with (and without) Christ Child

Canadian-Carved Goddess of Mercy to Visit Vietnam

Goddess of Mercy jade statue to visit Vietnam 15:18' 05/01/2010 (GMT+7) VietNamNet Bridge – The giant statue of the Goddess of Mercy, which is made from the largest jade block in the world, will be brought to Vietnam in mid-January 2010. The 1.1m high, 285kg statue is sculpted from the largest jade block in the world in Canada. In 2008, part of this jade block was used to make a Buddha statue of 2.7m high, 4 tonnes in weight. The Goddess of Mercy statue will appear at the Chiang Rai pagoda in Thailand on January 15. It will also appear afterwards at a great celebration held by the Thai royal family in Bangkok. The statue will then be brought to the Quan The Am pagoda in Danang on January 19. From January to April, the statue will go to Hanoi, HCM City, Hai Duong, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh.