Gleanings from Chinese folklore

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.