A temple in Guangdong Province was awarded the first "Registration Number Certificate for Folk Belief Activity Venue".
On October 29, the Longyan Ancient Temple in Guanyin Mountain, Dapeng New District, Shenzhen City, received the registration number certificate from Huang Zhongxin, deputy director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission of Guangdong Province. The policy "Measures for the Administration of the Registration and Numbering of Sites for Popular Belief Activities of Guangdong Province" came into effect in early January this year, according to the United Front Work Department of the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee.
Located in Guanyin Mountain, Wangmu Community, Dapeng Subdistrict, the temple is a well-known folk belief activity site, covering an area of 0.74 acres (3000 square meters) and rebuilt in 1908. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Dongjiang Column of the South Guangdong Anti-Japanese Armed Forces held many cadre training courses and set up battlefield hospitals, under the cover of the towering forests around the temple.
Huang put forward several requirements for the popular belief activity sites to be numbered in Shenzhen. Firstly, venues for religious activities should be registered and numbered in batches, once they met the requirements. The management systems for personnel, finance, public security, fire safety and civilized incense offering should be established in the venues. The second requirement was to build a platform to show the unique charm of folk beliefs across the country, which should improve the safety, the environment, the level of internal management, and the quality of folk cultural activities, and eliminate the commercialization of folk beliefs. The third condition was to explore "how folk beliefs could play an active role in enriching people's lives, promoting traditional culture, discovering Chinese red culture, promoting foreign exchanges, and maintaining harmony and stability, striving to make a contribution to the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area".
It is said that there are 30 places for folk belief activities in Dapeng New District.
In recent years, exploring the establishment of a long-term management mechanism for folk belief affairs, Guangdong Province has issued policy documents on governing folk beliefs and the "Measures for the Administration of the Registration and Numbering of Sites for Popular Belief Activities". The venues for folk belief activities with "a certain scale, wide influence, strong representation, and management standards" should be registered with numbers and receive classified governance.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
