The Pigtail and Chopsticks Man (Jim Cromarty)

The Pigtail and Chopsticks Man

The Story of J. Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission

Skilled author Jim Cromarty writes of the missionary labors of Hudson Taylor and the establishment of the remarkable China Inland Mission.  In this biography, Cromarty fills us in on the details of Hudson Taylor’s sacrificial life in an exciting and lively style which which appeals to youth.

Targeting spiritual and practical lessons, this biography is perfectly suited for parents to read with children 10 and older as well. Discussion questions are included at the end of each chapter. Hudson Taylor said, near the end of life and his labors: “There is nothing small; and there is nothing great; only God is great, and we should trust Him fully.”

About Hudson Taylor

“China is not to be won for Christ by quiet, ease-loving men and women. The stamp of men and women we need is such as will put Jesus, China and souls first and foremost in everything and at every time. Even life itself must be secondary.”

In September 1853, a little three-masted clipper slipped quietly out of Liverpool harbor with Hudson Taylor, a gaunt and wild-eyed 21-year-old missionary, aboard. He was headed for a country that was just starting to cross the minds of Western Christians.  Only a few missionaries were stationed there. By the time Taylor died a half-century later, however, China was viewed as the most fertile and challenging of mission fields, as thousands volunteered annually to serve there.

Taylor was born to James and Amelia Taylor, a Methodist couple fascinated with the Far East who had prayed for their newborn, “Grant that he may work for you in China.” Years later, a teenage Hudson experienced a spiritual birth during an intense time of prayer. As he lay stretched, he later put it, “before God with unspeakable awe and unspeakable joy.” He spent the next years in frantic preparation, learning the rudiments of medicine, studying Mandarin, and immersing himself ever deeper into the Bible and prayer.

Radical missionary

His ship arrived in Shanghai, one of five “treaty ports” China had opened to foreigners following its first Opium War with England. Almost immediately Taylor made a radical decision (as least for Protestant missionaries of the day): he decided to dress in Chinese clothes and grow a pigtail (as Chinese men did). His fellow Protestants were either incredulous or critical.

Taylor, for his part, was not happy with most missionaries he saw.  He believed they were worldly and spent too much time with English businessmen and diplomats serving as translators. Instead, Taylor wanted the Christian faith taken to the interior of China. So within months of arriving, and the language still a challenge, Taylor set off for the interior. Accompanied by Joseph Edkins, they set sail down the Huangpu River, distributing Chinese Bibles and tracts.

When the Chinese Evangelization Society, which had sponsored Taylor, proved incapable of paying its missionaries in 1857, Taylor resigned. From then on he was an independent missionary, trusting God to meet his needs. The same year, he married Maria Dyer, daughter of missionaries stationed in China. He continued to pour himself into his work, and his small church in Ningpo grew to 21 members. But by 1861, he became seriously ill, probably with hepatitis.  Taylor was thus forced to return to England to recover.

About the Author 

Jim Cromarty is a well-known author of both children and adult books about family worship, missions, Christian history. Jim has even written about Australia’s great outdoors. He is retired and lives in Australia. Some of his most popular biographies are A Mighty Fortress is our God and For the Love of India.  These are about Martin Luther and Henry Martyn.  He authored three volumes in the delightful Adventures Series for youth: Outback Adventures, Pacific Adventures, and Great Barrier Reef Adventures. 

Table of Contents

1. Hudson sails for China
2. James Taylor Becomes a Christian
3. Hard days for Great-grandparents
4. Rough Weather
5. Hudson’s mother and father
6. Hudson reads a tract
7. A doctor for China
8. God answers Hudson’s prayers
9. Hudson puts God to the test
10. A move to London
11. Hudson’s journey to China
12. China at last
13. Journeys inland
14. A trip to Ningbo
15. A meeting with William Burns
16. Peter and Maria
17. Difficult times
18. Life in England
19. God answers the prayers of his people
20. An exciting trip to China
21. Hangzhou – a new start
22. Trouble
23. Gracie’s death
24. A riot
25. Maria dies
26. A journey home
27. Drought
28. Much traveling
29. Death!
30. Home at last