1900 - Four Orphan Girls

June 28, 1900

Wangla Village, Hebei

Lucy Wang Cheng, Mary Fan Kun, Mary Ji Yu and Mary Zheng – four young orphans who refused to betray Christ. [CRBC]

Among the thousands of Christians massacred in Hebei during the Boxer Rebellion is a touching story of four Chinese girls who were part of the Catholic orphanage at Wangla Village, Hebei Province. The oldest of the four was 18-year-old Lucy Wang Cheng from Laochuntan village in Ningjin County. The others were Mary Fan Kun (16) and Mary Ji Yu (15), both from Daji village in Wuqiao County; while Mary Zheng Xu (11) was born at Kou village in Dongguang County.

On June 24, 1900, the Boxers invaded Wangla village, burned down the church, and massacred all Catholics who were too slow to escape. The Boxers decided to spare the four girls, planning to marry them off to some Boxer leaders to use as sex-slaves. The four girls were taken to Yingjia, then to Mazetang. The Boxer leader, a brute of a man named Ying Zheng, made a proposal of marriage to the eldest of the orphans, Lucy Wang Cheng. For four days he tried to persuade her to accept the offer, using both threats and manipulation. Lucy “considered it a betrayal of her faith and her God, and she refused. Another Boxer tried to force Fan Kun to marry another member of the Boxer group. Lucy encouraged the other three by exclaiming, ‘We are daughters of God. We will not betray Him.’”[1] Some more senior Boxer chiefs rebuked the men. Their mission was to kill Catholics, not marry them.

Seeing they would get nowhere in their lustful endeavours, the Boxers took the girls back to Wangla village in the back of a donkey cart. The younger girls started to cry, but Lucy encouraged them, “Don’t cry. We are going to heaven soon. God has given us life; He will take it back. We should not be reluctant givers, but offer ourselves cheerfully.”[2] As soon as the cart reached Wangla, the Boxers offered the girls one last chance to deny Christ. They unanimously replied, “No! We are daughters of God. We will not betray Him.”[3] At that the four orphan girls were slain.

1. “The Martyrs of China 1648-1930,” Tripod, 65.
2. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 69.
3. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 69.