1. The song of “Ting Lang Seeking his Father” is never sung by the
“foundation beaters” of China except they are given a special gift of
money or a meal of white bread. There is no other song among the many
they sing that produces the effect that this one does; man by man they
seem to live over the little lad’s life. A leader sings the main part,
they coming in in special parts as it is arranged. When one of the
British Legation buildings in Peking was being built, they paid five
dollars to have the song sung, and it is always the special for all
large Chinese buildings.
2. The place where the wicked Nien Chi lived is the site of the
American Board Mission in Peking and was bought by them over forty
years ago. It adjoins the grounds of the great and more wicked Yen
Sung. This is now the home of a Mongol Prince. The palace has had for
hundreds of years an unsavoury reputation. It was the underlings,
servants, and Boxers, supported by the present owner, who was also a
Boxer leader, who destroyed the Congregational Mission in 1900. It was
the place where the Mission made its headquarters until the rebuilding
of the Board property. It was here many Christians were taken, tried,
and sentenced to death. So the present record is similar to that of the
days of Yen Sung.