New Britain herald., 1926-03-10
YU T0UNG.LING IS LEADING WOMAN Her Position in China Gives Her
 Publicity

Picking, March 10 Rl-Yu RounE- ling, lady in waiting to the empress dowagCr while still too young to wear the elaborate Marchu court costume and therefore obliged 10 dress as boy, has served every presidential household under the republic as mistress of ceremonies and is today the most widely known Chinese woman.
 Stepping from q French convent into the imperial court she became at once the favorite of the old cm- press. Her grace, beauty and intel 1 ligcnco have since won for her the highest honors attainahlo under Chinas now regime. Her greatest ambition now is to become movie" i actress.
 Madame Dan Pao-tchao. as the little convent girl of Manchu days 1 is known today, is frankly stage struck. She longs for the day when she can escape the turmoil Of ] Chinese politics and carve for her self screen career Her yearnng for histronic expression has found vent in amateur acting and Chinese interprctative dancing in which she exccls.
 Soon after the birth Of Yu ' Roungling, in Tientsin, her father. Yu Kong, became minister of tho TsunEli Yamcn. the department of the government which by process of evolution eventually became the Foreign Office. As minister 10 Japan. Yu Keng later took his family there. From Japan he went to Paris as minister 10 France. Roungling was
 placed in charge of the sisters of
 Sacre Occur convent and the stamp
 of western culture which she re-
 ceivcd in those early years causes
 her today, in Parsian costume which
 she frequently wears, to be mistaken
 for q French woman.
 About the time Of Yu Kengs re-
 turn to China, in the first years of
 the present century the empress
 dowager wished to have some young
 woman who spoke foreign languages
 d customs attached to her court. Yu
 Roung-ling notwithstanding Ter
 youth was introduced and installed
 as member of the imperial suite.
 Tt is amusing now to think of those days" said Madame Dan. "I
 was so young and so little that I
 could not possibly wear the beautiful
 and elaborate Manchu head dress
 and without it the court costume 7 wasn't complete; so they dressed mo
 in hoy's clothes. I was glad because , they were so much more comfortable to wear but still it took more than | an hour every morning 10 have my hair dressed. We had to get ID early always by half past six or seven , o'clock to be ready to 20 10 th" , empress apartments to wish her f good morning and mako cur bows I when she came cut of her boudoir at about eight o'clock.
 "l}ut they were happy days. The , l empress always was vcry kind 10 Us land we were very found of her. l al- ways went to audiences with the en- press. II was quite a long way 10 go 1 in the palace; but it was easy for 6 me in my boys clothes 10 get about. = I used 10 stand CT sit on the floor
 behind a screen where I could hear V everything, but of course l was too 1 young to understand much of what was said"
 Yu Roung-ling left tho palace
 after the empress death and joined
 her parents then living in Shanghai
 Life in the old surroundjUc8 lost its l charm with the passing of her beloved sovereign and she pleaded to be taken away. In Shanghai she mar F. riod rising young official, Dar !, Pao-tchao. who is now counselor 1T , the ulfjcc Of the president with the C. ranE ot general
 a Each succeeding administration n from Yuan Shih-liai down 10 th' n present chief executive has availeC o itself of Madame Dams efficient anl
 .tactful services as mistress Of core . monies