At the age of 14, Ying was taken to the United Kingdom by Roman Catholic missionary Frédéric-Vincent Lebbe.

[1] During the Second Sino-Japanese War, after the fall of Beijing, Ying and Shen Jianshi secretly founded the Yanwu Society (炎武学社), an Anti-Japanese and national salvation organization which propagandized the idea of resisting Japan and saving the country among young people.

At the end of 1948, after receipt of the notice, Ying went to Taiwan with Hu Shih by an assignment plane.

His students included Zheng Peikai, Zhang Xiuya, Gao Tian'en, Han Gongzhen, and Ma Ying-jeou.

[4] On October 8, 1969, Ying died of lung cancer at Cardinal Tien Hospital, in Taipei, Taiwan.