Hudson Taylor

Life and work

Taylor grew up in a Methodist family committed to missions and, after medical training, first traveled to China in 1854 under the Chinese Evangelization Society. Frustrated by that organization's financial instability and by missionary practice that kept foreigners isolated in coastal treaty ports, he developed convictions that would define his later work.

In 1865, Taylor founded the China Inland Mission (CIM) on principles that were then unusual: missionaries would not solicit funds directly but trust God to provide (a "faith mission" model), would be drawn from any Protestant denomination, and — most controversially to Victorian sensibilities — would adopt Chinese dress and, for men, the queue hairstyle, to live and travel more effectively among the inland Chinese population rather than remaining confined to coastal enclaves.

Under Taylor's leadership, the CIM grew to become the largest Protestant mission agency in China by the early twentieth century, sending hundreds of missionaries into inland provinces previously unreached by Western missionaries, though the mission's history is also marked by tragedy, including the deaths of Taylor's own wife and several children in China, and the killing of dozens of CIM missionaries during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

Taylor's faith-mission model and emphasis on cultural adaptation influenced the broader Protestant missions movement for generations afterward, and the organization he founded continues today, renamed OMF International.

In their own words

"China is not to be won for Christ by quiet, ease-loving men and women."attributed

Further reading

• Encyclopedia Britannica: Hudson Taylor