Preparation Office for the Fenghuang Mt District Government Affairs Committee
Meixi Chen Ancestral Hall serves as the Preparation Office for the Fenghuang Mt District Government Affairs Committee
In wartime 1944, three representatives of the Democratic Regime Construction Preparation Office of Zhongshan County (which until 1953 included Zhuhai) were charged with establishing the Fenghuang Mt District Government Affairs Committee. They set up an office at Meixi Chen Ancestral Hall in Meixi Village, Qianshan Town of Xiangzhou District.
Preparatory office personnel worked with grassroots-level organizations, greatly mobilized local masses, and made the Fenghuang Mt District Anti-Japanese Base Area a strong support for the backstage battlefield of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) in the Pearl River Delta. The person in charge of the Xiangzhou District Chronicles Office recently told reporters, "The anti-Japanese base area behind enemy lines in the Fenghuang Mt area became a barrier for the resistance struggle behind enemy lines in the Pearl River Delta."
Today, Meixi Chen Ancestral Hall, which was built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to venerate ancestors of the Chen clan in Meixi Village, is an Exhibition Hall of exquisite Chinese plaques and inscriptions. Chen Fang (1825-1906) was the first Chinese consul in Hawaii and first overseas Chinese millionaire. His former residence is today the Meixi Royal Stone Archways tourist attraction, a national key cultural relics protection unit.
268 Lyuyou Road, Qianshan, Xiangzhou District
Interior of Chen Great Ancestral Hall [Photos courtesy WeChat account: zhxiangzhou]