The Cai Clan Ancestral Hall — Site of the Dongguan New Fifth District United Township Office

The Cai Clan Ancestral Hall — Site of the Dongguan New Fifth District United Township Office

The Cai Clan Ancestral Hall — Site of the Dongguan New Fifth District United Township Office is a cultural relic protection unit of Dongguan City.

The Cai Clan Ancestral Hall — Site of the Dongguan New Fifth District United Township Office is located on the right side of No. 10, Lane 8, South She, Zhengda Street, Xiaobian Community, Chang’an Town. GPS coordinates: 22°48'18.0"N, 113°48'34.4"E, elevation 10 meters. The Cai Clan Ancestral Hall was first built around 1850 by the 19th-generation ancestor of the Cai family in Xiaobian and was renovated in 2006.

The ancestral hall faces east and has a three-bay, three-courtyard, four-gallery, two-courtyard courtyard-style layout, measuring 14.1 meters in width and 38.2 meters in depth. It features a brick, wood, and stone structure, with a mixed post-and-lintel and through-tenon beam frame, a flush-gable roof, hipped gable walls, clay-modelled dragon boat ridges, grey-brick walls, gray barrel tiles, granite and red stone pillars, and includes a teaching platform.

In early 1941, the Guangdong People’s Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Forces secretly established the Xiaobian United Township Office in Xiaobian, with Liu Yin serving as the director. The office was located inside the Cai Clan Ancestral Hall and was under the jurisdiction of the Daling Mountain Anti-Japanese Base. In September 1944, the Dongguan New Fifth District United Township Office was established, overseeing nine townships: Huaide, Shatou, Chigang, Jinsha, Wusha, Xiagang, Beizha, and Xiaobian. The office remained at the same location. After its establishment, the United Township Office immediately launched a campaign titled “Save Grain, Substitute Grains with Alternatives, and Get Through Hard Times Together,” and initiated movements for “reducing rents and interest, returning rents and deposits.” By the end of the year, the New Fifth District United Township Office was dissolved, and the New Fifth District Anti-Japanese Democratic Government was formed, with Cai Ruping (later Wan Ming) appointed as district head. In autumn 1945, over 300 members of the anti-Japanese self-defense force from the New Fifth District joined troops to strike against invading puppet army forces, killing or injuring more than 100 puppet soldiers. On June 30, 1946, the main force of the Dongjiang Column withdrew northward, non-combat personnel were demobilized, and the New Fifth District government ceased operations. From the establishment of the Dongguan New Fifth District United Township Office to the conclusion of the New Fifth District Anti-Japanese Democratic Government, approximately one year and nine months had passed.

In January 2004, the Cai Clan Ancestral Hall at the site of the Dongguan New Fifth District United Township Office was designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Dongguan City by the Dongguan Municipal People’s Government.