In order to accommodate the luminosity improvement strategy, two superconducting 499.8 MHz radio frequency (rf) cavities have been adopted for the Upgrade project of Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPCII), a double-ring electron–positron collider as well as a synchrotron radiation (SR) light source. The in-house development of the 499.8 MHz superconducting cavity system was initiated at IHEP since 2008. One prototype niobium cavity with all the parts except for the flanges and the pickup port formed by spinning was fabricated and then vertical-tested successfully in July 2011. Four prototype input couplers were manufactured and high-power tested with one reaching a maximum rf power of continuous wave (cw) 420 kW. One prototype HOM damper with a satisfactory absorbing efficiency at the desired frequency band was also constructed and high power tested up to cw 4.4 kW. In the meanwhile, a frequency tuner consisting of a stepping motor and a piezoelectric oscillator was developed. Finally, the bare cavity was dressed with one input coupler, two HOM dampers and one frequency tuner, mounted in a domestic-developed cryostat and then high-power tested successfully in Oct. 2011. The achieved accelerating voltage is 2.2 MV with corresponding $Q_0$ measured to be 5.8 × 10${}^8$, beyond the designed goal. This is the first in-house developed 499.8 MHz HOM-damped superconducting cavity system in China. The design, fabrication, post processing and tests of the niobium bare cavity and its auxiliaries, as well as the horizontal high-power test of the cavity system are presented.