On July 20, 2016, the Regulations on Auditing Folk Belief Activities in luqiao district (for Trial Implementation) (hereinafter referred to as the “Auditing Regulations”) was promulgated, which marked the formal establishment of the first county-level management system for folk belief activities in Zhejiang Province. This “Audit Regulation” is applicable to the places of folk belief activities in luqiao district. It will be tried out for one year, and will be revised and improved next year depending on the actual situation.
Before registration, folk belief activities were basically in a “vacuum” management state, and there were no specific documents and clear standards at the grass-roots level when regulating activities in places, so it was difficult to grasp the audit scale. Therefore, on the premise of focusing on the Regulations on Religious Affairs, the Regulations on Religious Affairs of Zhejiang Province and the Measures for the Safety Management of Large-scale Mass Activities in Zhejiang Province, luqiao district also made reference to the management of folk belief activities issued by other provinces, cities, counties (districts) and relevant departments, and formulated the “audit regulations” for folk belief activities in combination with the daily safety management of folk belief venues in luqiao district, basically clarifying the management responsibilities at all levels, which were accepted by towns (streets)
The “Audit Regulation” clarifies that, usually, folk belief activities refer to folk belief activities organized collectively in the place with the duration of the activities not exceeding 3 days and the number of participants not exceeding 100. Usually, non-folk belief activities include 7 kinds of situations, such as activities lasting more than 3 days or with more than 100 participants, and folk belief activities organized collectively in the place.
At the same time, the regulations specify the audit conditions and application materials for ordinary and unusual folk belief activities, requiring ordinary activities to be filed with the local town (street), and unusual activities to be applied to the local town (street) and district religious departments 30 days in advance, and specify the specific audit procedures for situations outside the venue and within the town (street), across towns (streets), across districts (counties, cities) and holding large-scale folk belief activities.
In order to strengthen the supervision of folk belief activities, this regulation also clarifies the disposal measures of five kinds of illegal acts, such as unauthorized holding of folk belief activities in places, illegal gains, and violation of public security administration.