The Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall — Site of the Former Dongguan County Committee of the CPC

The Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall — Site of the Former Dongguan County Committee of the CPC

The Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall — Site of the Former Dongguan County Committee of the CPC is a cultural relic protection unit of Dongguan City.

The Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall — Site of the Former Dongguan County Committee of the CPC is located in Qiaozai Village, Changping Town (formerly known as Wusha), covering an area of 300 square meters. GPS coordinates: 22°58'45.3"N, 113°58'10.8"E, at an elevation of 8 meters.

In the autumn of 1925, under the organization and mobilization of Cai Ruping, a member of the CPC and a special envoy of the Peasant Department of the Kuomintang Central Committee, the Wusha Farmers’ Association was established in the Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall. The main leaders of the association were Zhou Dachi (also known as Zhou Shiping) and Zhou Yikui, with around 300 members. The farmers’ association organized its members and the peasant self-defense militia to struggle against local despots and evil gentry.

On April 12, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched a coup, and the Communists went underground. In the autumn of that year, the Dongguan County Committee of the CPC was established. The county party secretary, Cai Ruping, disguised as a pork vendor, led some committee members to secretly move to Wusha to continue the struggle. The county committee set up its headquarters in Zhou Shiping’s shop, an auxiliary building of the Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall (now demolished). The county committee organized the county’s peasant militias into three battalions, one of which was the Changping Battalion formed mainly from members of the Wusha Farmers’ Association, with Ye Hanting as battalion commander. In November of the same year, Zhao Zixuan, a member of the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee’s Southern Bureau, came to Wusha to preside over a meeting of responsible persons from Dongguan and Bao’an counties to discuss plans for an armed uprising. They also established the Dongbao Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army General Headquarters, with Cai Ruping as commander-in-chief, Zheng Shinnan (also known as Zheng Zhe) as deputy commander-in-chief, and Zhao Zixuan as advisor. The headquarters had four battalions: the first and second battalions were formed by Dongguan, commanded by Zhou Dachi and Ye Hanting respectively; the third and fourth battalions were formed by Bao’an. In mid-December, the county committee held an emergency meeting in Dashaxiang, Dalingshan, to discuss and formulate a military plan to attack Guancheng and Humen in support of the Guangzhou Uprising. Later, upon learning of the failure of the Guangzhou Uprising, the original plan was canceled. On March 17, 1928, following instructions from the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPC, the county committee was reorganized, and the new Dongguan County Committee headquarters was relocated to Yongtai Village, Wanjiang.

After the Dongguan County Committee withdrew, the site continued to be used as a clan ancestral hall. After the liberation of Dongguan, the Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall was used as the headquarters of the Qiaozai Brigade, the site of the Qiaozai Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and the Qiaozai Elderly Association, among other purposes. In 1993, Qiaozai, Sukeng, and Xiawei villages jointly funded the restoration of the building to its original appearance, and it continued to be used as a clan ancestral hall.

In January 2004, the Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall — Site of the Former Dongguan County Committee of the CPC was designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Dongguan City by the Dongguan Municipal People’s Government.

Qiaozai Village: Qiaozai Village is located 2 kilometers northwest of the central area of Changping Town, bordering the Hanxi River of Changping to the northeast, covering an area of 1.95 square kilometers. It is a well-known hometown of overseas Chinese, with more than 3,000 overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong and Macau. The village administers seven villager groups, with a registered population of 2,501 and a non-native population of about 6,021. The community currently has eight members on its “two committees” (including five party committee members, five village committee members, with two serving in both roles), six of whom have a high school education or below, and two hold associate degrees or higher. The Community Party General Branch has 100 members, and the community has six “two new” party organizations with 27 “two new” party members. 2…… More detailed information about Qiaozai Village++