Investigation: Ancestral Hall Built for 7 Million Yuan Rots and Is Ruled a "Severely Damaged Building"; Three Arrested

The main structure of the Zeng Ancestral Hall cost more than 7 million yuan to build. Photo by Chen Xuhou, The Paper

The Zeng Grand Ancestral Hall, located inside the Zhuji Ancient Lane scenic area in Nanxiong, Guangdong, cost more than 7 million yuan to build its main structure. Yet just one year after completion, the hall's timber began to crack and rot, and it was later assessed as a "severely damaged building." Believing that the construction was riddled with problems, the Zeng clansmen who had donated money began to seek redress.

An investigation by The Paper found that at the outset of construction, the Nanxiong Zhuji Lane Wucheng Friendship Association entrusted a man surnamed Zhang to act as the client's representative and supervisor in charge of building the hall. At the time, Zhang was deputy general manager of the Nanxiong Municipal Engineering Construction Company (hereinafter "Nanxiong Municipal Company"). Under his direction, the association successively signed construction contracts with the Nanxiong Municipal Company and with a man surnamed Wang. After problems emerged with the hall's timber, the wood supplier, surnamed Ma, said that when facing questions from the Zeng clansmen, his initial total quote for the wood had been 1.65 million yuan, but after Zhang and Wang "beat the price down," the final quote was slashed to 900,000 yuan — of which "all the merbau materials" accounted for only 337,000 yuan.

Under the agreement, the timber used for the hall was to be "merbau" (a hardwood). However, related testing reports showed that the wood samples sent for inspection were "African padauk ironwood." Compared with merbau, this ironwood is far cheaper, and many merchants pass it off as merbau. A person in charge at the association said that, according to testing analysis, the hall used not only the cheaper ironwood but recycled, refurbished old ironwood — which is why the timber cracked and rotted in such a short time.

In May 2026, the Nanxiong Municipal Procuratorate replied that Zhang and Wang, suspected of the crime of occupational misappropriation (embezzlement of entrusted funds), had been approved for arrest. Photo provided by an interviewee

This May, Zhang and Wang were successively approved for arrest by the Nanxiong Municipal Procuratorate on suspicion of occupational misappropriation. Afterward, Nanxiong police told the Zeng clansmen who were seeking redress that Ma had also recently been apprehended. The clansmen said the matter might involve others, possibly even "collusion between insiders and outsiders," and called for a thorough investigation to reveal the truth.

Relevant departments in Nanxiong have organized multiple rounds of communication and mediation over the matter. A person in charge at the Nanxiong State-owned Assets Investment Co., Ltd. said the Nanxiong Municipal Company would pay the relevant repair costs for the hall.

Multiple beams of the Zeng Grand Ancestral Hall have rotted and become damaged. Screenshot

Problems appeared just one year after the hall was completed

Zhuji Lane, located in Nanxiong, Shaoguan, Guangdong, became a commercial hub after Zhang Jiuling was ordered to open the Meiguan ancient road in the fourth year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty (716). It was a must-pass point for travelers heading north and south and a resting place for Central Plains people migrating south to escape war. It holds major significance in the social history of Lingnan. Zhuji Lane is thus known as "the number one lane in Guangdong," and is also called "the ancestral home of the Cantonese people" and "the birthplace of Guangfu culture." By some counts, 185 surnames spread out from Zhuji Lane, with descendants numbering more than 80 million.

Zhuji Ancient Lane is a well-known scenic area in Nanxiong, home to dozens of surname ancestral halls, including the Zeng Grand Ancestral Hall. Photo by Chen Xuhou, The Paper

According to the Nanxiong municipal government website, Zhuji Ancient Lane is the core scenic area of Nanxiong's "famous capital of surname culture." In recent years Nanxiong has held to a positioning as "the source of Guangfu, the capital of surnames," deeply developing and using surname-culture resources. It has now built 35 new surname ancestral halls, with 4 more under construction.

Standing in the Zhuji Ancient Lane scenic area are one magnificent ancestral hall after another, among them the Zeng Grand Ancestral Hall. The hall occupies 920 square meters, with a building area of 1,228 square meters and a total cost of about 12 million yuan, of which the main structure cost more than 7 million yuan. The wing rooms on both sides are two-story frame structures, while the central main structure is entirely granite and merbau hardwood columns, with plain green-brick walls and merbau wood beams on top, covered with green tiles. The whole building follows a "three-court, three-bay" layout, inheriting the traditions of Lingnan culture while reflecting the characteristics of Guangfu culture.

According to a person in charge at the association, in 2014 local Zeng clansmen in Nanxiong began planning to build the Zeng Grand Ancestral Hall in Zhuji Lane and started contacting Zeng clansmen across Guangdong. In 2015, the Nanxiong Zhuji Lane Wucheng Friendship Association was registered and established to build the hall. Clansmen from various places then donated enthusiastically, raising a total of more than 12 million yuan.

The person said the donors were mainly clansmen from within Guangdong. There were many donors — the largest single donation reached over one million yuan, and some donated in the name of an entire village, meaning the donors behind the project numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

The Zeng Grand Ancestral Hall once passed completion acceptance. Photo provided by an interviewee

Construction of the Zeng Grand Ancestral Hall began in 2016. In October 2018, after about two years, the hall was completed.

In November 2018, the completed Zeng Grand Ancestral Hall held a grand celebration. On the morning of November 19, 2018, more than 6,000 Zeng clansmen from across the country gathered in Nanxiong to jointly pass on good family traditions. Several city leaders of Nanxiong attended the event.

"When the hall was built, it looked very beautiful and everyone was happy," said one Zeng clansman who attended the celebration.

But before long, problems appeared with the hall.

Currently, the hall's wooden columns show obvious cracking and rotting. Photo by Chen Xuhou, The Paper

The person cited above said that in October 2019, the eight wooden columns in the rear hall began to rot. As these were all load-bearing columns, the contractor spent several hundred thousand yuan (advanced by the association) to replace the eight columns. But more problems followed, with the hall's tile beams and carved crossbeams also cracking and rotting.

This article is an English summary translated from the original report by The Paper (澎湃新闻). For the full original report, see the source link.