It is reported that a Chinese priest moved among the defenders of Tong-lu and constantly invoked the Mother of God to save his people. The bullets of the rebels failed to shatter the apparition posed over the Mission Church. Other sources report that the rebels were put to flight by a "strange horseman." The Chinese pastor of Tong-lu, desiring to commemorate the unusual occurrence, secured a painting of the Dowager Empress Tze-Hsi dresssed in her magnificent imperial robes. He took it to an artist, and had him paint the image of the Madonna with the Christ child. This picture of the queenly Virgin Mother, dressed in the sumptious robes of a non-christian empress, was hung in the little church at Tong-lu which then became a place of pilgrimage, and reportedly still is (1946). The madonna of Tong-lu is addressed as Our Lady of China.

The image [see right] was proclaimed Our Lady of China at the 1924 Synod of Shanghai. At the same gathering, also known as national council, bishop Henri Lecroart made the proposal to consecrate all of China, Mongolia, Manchuria and Tibet to Mary under the title, Queen of China. The consecration was made by the Apostolic Delegate, C. Constantini, on June 12, 1924.