The club also participated in the Chinese FA Cup for the first time where they came runners-up within that competition, losing 2–1 in the final to Tianjin.

The club were unable to redeem themselves the following season when in 1966 football was halted within the country due to the cultural revolution.

In 1969 Zhao Yong managed the side during the intervening years when there was no national league and the club took part in regional competitions.

When the league restarted in 1973 Guangdong were allowed entry back into the top tier and they brought in Su Yongshun as their head coach once more, however his second stint proved to be more fruitful after guiding the club to a fourth-place finish.

[4] Su used the competition as a springboard to usher in young talented players such as Cai Jinbiao, Chen Xirong, Du Zhiren, Guan Zhirui, He Jia and Rong Zhixing into the squad before guiding them to the 1979 league title.

[6] Xian Dixiong would have to contend with an aging squad, most notably the club's talisman Rong Zhixing who on February 27, 1983, was given China's first ever testimonial before retiring.

Improved attendances and immediate promotion back into the top flight would not materialise at the end of the 1998 league season.

The club would move to Nanning and then Nanchang where the continued inability to win promotion along with low attendances saw the Guangdong Hongyuan Group decide that it was financially unsustainable to run a football club and sold their licence to Qingdao Hailifeng F.C.