Lulong

He was a gifted calligrapher, a talent held in high esteem, and in 1908 a warlord named Wang Huaiqing, who was visiting Lulong, noticed the fine calligraphy on a plaque over the gate of the main temple and asked to meet the man who had done it.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991

The night before he was due to leave, he asked my grandmother to go and live with him at Lulong.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991

She waited for nightfall, and then raced back to Lulong with them and their two horses by a shortcut.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991

Xue Zhi-heng was born in 1876 in the county of Lulong, about a hundred miles east of Peking, and just south of the Great Wall, where the vast North China plain runs up against the mountains.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991

He had been leading the quiet life of a wealthy retired dignitary, dividing his time between his house in Tianjin and his country mansion near Lulong.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991

His body was brought back to Lulong in a lacquered coffin covered with red embroidered silk.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991

She was comparatively safe, 200 miles from Lulong and effectively out of reach of the Xue household.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991

My grandmother sent a telegram to Lulong saying my mother had fallen ill on the train and had died.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991

The silence from Lulong lasted over a year, until one autumn day in 1933, when a telegram arrived informing her that General Xue had died, and that she was expected at Lulong immediately for the funeral.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991

She wrote to General Xue to let him know, and he wrote back telling her to call the girl Bao Qin and to bring her to Lulong as soon as they were strong enough to travel.

Wild Swans Jung Chang 1991