1900 - Timothy Wang & Brother

June 1900

Limengyang, Hebei

Timothy Wang was a young man from the village of Limengyang in Hebei Province. Just 17-years-old at the time of the Boxer attacks, Timothy was attending a boarding school run by the missionaries and was well-liked by both the staff and his fellow students. During school holidays it was the teenager’s habit to return to his home village, gather the women and children together on a threshing floor or under the shade of a spreading tree, and share stories of Jesus with them. This way many people heard the gospel for the first time. By the summer of 1900 there were many Christians in Limengyang village, so the Boxers determined to attack them with great ferocity. One report stated:

“They formed themselves into a line two miles [three kilometres] long and marched to the village, with the intention of surrounding it, so that not one of the Christians might escape…. Timothy and his young brother made an attempt to escape, but the Boxer ring was drawn around the village so closely that this was quite impossible. The two boys were seized and bound by their persecutors.”[1]

Timothy and his brother were among the crowd of Christians driven along under the blazing sun to the Boxer headquarters in a nearby market town. They were immediately taken to an execution ground, while the local townspeople howled their approval, eager to watch the slaughter of the Christians. Fully aware that he was just moments away from seeing his Lord and Saviour, Timothy Wang asked permission to kneel and pray to his Heavenly Father before he died. Approval was given. One account reported:

“It was a strange sight,—the earnest boy convert kneeling there in communion with his Lord, while the persecutors thirsted for his blood. They soon grew impatient, and before Timothy rose from his knees he was cut down by their cruel swords. His young brother was killed in the same way a few minutes later.”[2]