Hudson Taylor-Opium in China

By Mary Vee

Year: 1887 

Hudson Taylor: age 55

From J. Hudson Taylor's Notes

Photo Courtesy

Many people in China had grown use to taking a drug called opium. This terrible drug hurt the people. The more men and women used the drug, the more they wanted the drug. They could not stop on their own.

Opium caused the users to have problems making good choices. Sometimes the people who used it ran out of money to buy more. These men and women sold anything they had to buy opium, even family members.

Pastor Hsi, one of the Chinese missionaries, wanted to help these people. He bought buildings in different cities and set up a place where men and women could come to stop taking the opium drug. While there, the men and women heard about God and received food and drink, a nice place to sleep and someone to talk to.

Pastor Hsi and his wife prayed often for the people in Linfen. So many men and women in Linfen needed a place to help them stop taking the opium drug but Pastor Hsi didn't have money to help them. One day, Mrs. Hsi went to her room and brought down a box. She set it on the table in front of her husband. "I think God has answered our prayers about Linfen."

Pastor Hsi opened the box and found all of her jewelry that made up her dowery. "Are you sure you want to give these away?" 

"Oh, yes."

They sold the jewelry and used the money to buy a building and to pay nurses to take care of the opium users. Refuges from the city and nearby villages came. While there, they heard about the God who loves them and learned to live without the drug.

Sometime later I asked Mrs. Hsi if she missed having her special jewelry. She said, "Miss them? I have Jesus. He is all I need."

Pastor and Mrs. Hsi spent their lives helping the people of China to stop taking the opium drug. After seeing his strong desire to help teach the people of China about the God who loves them, I put Pastor Hsi in charge of helping the churches in the area. 

I am so thankful to a loving God who helps His people.

J. Hudson Taylor

Missionary to China--Inland China!

So Very Blessed by God

Research resources: J. Hudson Taylor, An Autobiography by J. Hudson Taylor; It is Not Death to Die, a new biography of Hudson Taylor by Jim Cromarty; Hudson Taylor Founder, China Inland Mission by Vance Christie; J. Hudson Taylor, A Man in Christ, by Roger Steer, and Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret by Dr.and Mrs. Howard Taylor