A LOYAL DOG IN CHINA

This is a story that is a lot like the story of Greyfriars Bobby, which is a story I already told you, except that this story is in China, and it took place not very long ago.  And what happened was that this past November, a man named Lao Pan died, and he was 68 years old.  He lived all alone in the village of Panjiatun, which is in Shandong Province.  This province is on the eastern edge of China, with a coast on the Yellow Sea.  Not that it really matters, but I thought I'd tell you the location anyway, since I went to all the trouble to look it up.

Lao Pan was not married, and he did not have many relatives, but he had a yellow dog who loved him very much.  I wish we knew the name of this dog, but we don't.

After Lao Pan died, some people cleaned out the room where he used to live, and his dog disappeared.  After a while, the villagers noticed that the dog was staying by Lao Pan's grave.  He stayed there for 7 whole days without any food.

When the BBC reported the story of Lao Pan's dog, they talked to one of the men who lives in the village.  He said, "I saw the dog when I was working on the field, and I called him, and wanted to bring him back home, because I also have a dog.  I gave him a steamed bun when he came to my home.  The dog caught the bun and ran back.  I caught him, but he ran even faster to the tomb, and stayed there."

So the people of the village started taking food and water to the dog, and they were planning to build a kennel for him near the grave.  I hope they have done this by now, because it's winter in China, and a dog could get cold sitting outside by a grave all the time!