Hudson Taylor-The Hurting Women in Western China

By Mary Vee

Year: April 1881 

Hudson Taylor: age 49

From J. Hudson Taylor's Notes

Photo Courtesy

Sweet Fanny Clarke went with her husband, George to  Dali, the most western province of China to tell the people about God's love. They had become the missionaries who lived the farthest away from any other European person. Mail took seven months to reach them.

When they went to the house they'd bought to live in and set up their missionary work, they found squatters. Squatters are people who live in a home or apartment that they have not payed for. Squatters usually refuse to leave, mostly because they have no other home and cannot pay to go live anywhere else.

Fanny and her husband George needed someplace to live so they moved into their home and hoped the squatters would decide to leave on their own. The squatters had pigs, chickens, and their own children running through the yard and the house. There wasn't enough room for Fanny and George to invite people from the village to tell them about Jesus. Six months later the squatters finally left.

Next, Fanny needed to hire someone to help her cook and clean. There didn't seem to be any women available to work. In this city of Dali the men smoked drugs. This made them very wicked. The men sold their children for money to buy more drugs. Sometimes they even sold their wife to buy drugs. At last Fanny found a woman who wanted to hide from her husband. She brought her child to protect the little one and asked for a job.

Unfortunately, her husband found them. He came to the missionary house and took the woman's daughter. He sold her for drugs. There was nothing Fanny or George could do to stop him. This was the way in Dali. 

While their neighbor smoked drugs one day, he tried to kill his wife and child. Fortunately, George and Fanny and three other women stopped the man and saved the lives of the wife and child. George and Fanny spent most of their time trying to protect women and children.

Fanny said the city was like Sodom and Gomorrah, the wicked cities talked about in the Bible.

I have been praying that these men will be freed from the drugs so the city can heal. Only God knows if this can happen. Until then, George and Fanny will keep trying to help and tell the people of God's love.

Please pray for them.

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

Hudson Taylor-Mary Nicoll's Story

By Mary Vee

Year: April 1880 

Hudson Taylor: age 48

From J. Hudson Taylor's Notes

Photo Courtesy

Mary Nicoll wrote me, telling the most amazing news.

She already told us about the scary ride to Chongqing where she and her husband George barely arrived after two ships sank then walking a long ways to their new home.

Only two months later, Mary was bursting with wonderful news. Here is what she told me:

"I am so amazed. First I started working to clean our new home and set things up for our work. I had to be careful to respect the customs of the women here. 

"I set up a place in the back part of the house for women to come and hear the Gospel. Each time I spoke I did better. Men came to the front of the house to listen to the Gospel. 

Word spread throughout the city, and many new people lined up to come listen to the Bible stories. Crowds of women looked in the windows and listened. Then when the group inside the house left, those listening at the windows came in to hear the story.

"Soon the women of the town showed they trusted me. They were willing to listen to this foreign woman tell the stories of the God who loves them. Rich women invited me to their homes and asked me to speak to their groups of friends. 

"This job could not have been done by a missionary man in this culture. I am so grateful to Hudson Taylor for teaching us and encouraging us to come to Chongqing.

"Summer days made the work very difficult. Standing for long hours to tell the stories made me tired. A few times I collapsed right in the middle of a sentence. I woke, embarrassed. Several women sat, fanning me to cool me off. 

"The work continued to get busier and busier. I'm grateful so many women want to hear about Jesus. But now I find I must get up at three in the morning to write letters back to those who have help us with finances and then continue with my duties.

"Sometimes I must get up in the middle of the night to help talk with young women who try to commit suicide.

"For two years, I worked without seeing another woman from the west.

"Please pray, asking God to give us the strength to work these long days."


I want to give Mary Nicoll a chance to finish her story. She will come back next week and tell more about women missionaries in China. I am very thankful God has sent her here.

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

Hudson Taylor-The First Foreign Women in the Far West

By Mary Vee

Year: April 1880 

Hudson Taylor: age 48

From J. Hudson Taylor's Notes

Photo Courtesy

Last time we left Mary, her husband George Nicoll, Emily, and her husband George Clarke in a terrible storm with only an umbrella. Their belongings and boxes of books from the Bible Society had been soaked and their boat had sunk to the riverbed.

Mary is here to tell you more of their adventure.

"Our husbands and the crew did manage to get the boat back to the surface and repair the hole. They finished shortly after the books and supplies had dried.

"We loaded everything back in the boat and continued up the river toward Chongqing. Everything seemed to go well and our spirits renewed. We prayed and held church services on the boat....until the hull hit something else. What, I'm not sure, but the bang nearly threw me off my feet.

Photo Courtesy

"Again the men shouted to Fanny and me to swim to shore while they rescued our luggage and the books. When they raised the boat this time, they saw the damage could not be fixed. We had to finish our journey on foot. In the mountains. With all our luggage and the eleven boxes of books.

"After crossing the last mountain, we looked down at the huge valley before us. In the center of all the greenery was Chongqing. What a beautiful sight. 

"Since the people were not used to seeing foreign women, we didn't want to cause any problems by walking into the city. We had learned that women should be hidden. Our husbands hired covered sedan chairs to carry us to the church. 

"I opened the curtain surrounding the chair and stepped out. My husband, George, took me to the apartment where he used to live as a bachelor. I hardly knew what to say. A ragged table-cloth, filthy and stained lay on top of the table. The furniture settled in odd ways. And the best part--behind the door, a week of dust had been swept into a pile as is the Chinese custom.

"Fanny and her husband left a week later to help in Guiyang, leaving me as the only foreign woman in this area. This should be interesting."


Please continue to pray for Fanny and George as they finish traveling to their new mission work. Also pray for Mary and her husband, George as they set up a new ministry for the women in Chongqing.

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