A ceremony was held on the evening of September 5 for the completion of the newly built gate of Xiaolan Central Primary School (formerly Jiaokou Primary School), funded by donations from the Mai clan.

Ahead of the ceremony, members of the Mai clan from Shanghai, Macao, Zhanjiang, Zhaoqing, Foshan, Guangzhou and beyond visited the school. They could hardly hide their delight upon seeing the stately new school gate.

At the event, school principal Yang Guangping said that the collective support of so many people had transformed the school and resolved a long-standing access problem affecting nearly 2,000 teachers and students. After more than a century, the school had finally stepped out of the narrow alleys and into the spotlight.

Xiaolan Central Primary School now stands on the site of the former Mai Ancestral Hall. In 1905, clan members funded the establishment of the Mai Two-level Primary School within the hall.

When the school gate project ran into funding difficulties, three entrepreneurs from the Mai clan stepped forward to lead a fundraising drive, with more than 120 other members making generous contributions. The outpouring of support from the Mai family reflects the deep and lasting commitment of Zhongshan's local community to education.