Not to be Forgotten: Gladys Aylward 1902-1970 Missionary to China -- By: Leslie Hammond

Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 18:3 (Summer 2004)
Article: Not to be Forgotten: Gladys Aylward 1902-1970 Missionary to China
Author: Leslie Hammond


Not to be Forgotten:
Gladys Aylward 1902-1970 Missionary to China

Leslie Hammond

In 1930, a young woman named Gladys Aylward left the suburbs of London and set out for China, convicted that she was meant to preach the gospel to the people of this remote land. Rejected by the China Inland Mission because her “advanced age” of 28 made her too old to learn Chinese, she headed for the mission field entirely without support. Her resources were a meager two pounds nine pence, far short of the ship fare of the time, so her journey encompassed train, boat, bus, and mule before she finally arrived in the city of Yangchen in a mountainous region just south of present-day Beijing.

Upon arrival in Yangchen, Aylward teamed up with another lone missionary, an elderly Scotswoman named Jeannie Lawson. As practical as she was idealistic, Aylward realized immediately that the local people were not receptive to foreigners and that she needed a subtle and non-confrontational method of reaching them with the gospel. She and Lawson seized upon the idea of opening an inn that would attract the commercial travelers that came though Yangchen on their way to other cities. Along with clean beds, good food, and care for the travelers’ mules, the two women provided evening entertainment in the form of stories about a man named Jesus. The story-loving Chinese retold the Bible tales as they continued their travels, and the gospel message was soon spreading along with the fame of the innkeepers.

Despite the earlier predictions of the China Inland Mission, Aylward quickly mastered the local Chinese dialect and won the respect of the citizenry. Among her admirers was the Mandarin of Yangchen, who appointed her as the local foot inspector in charge of enforcing the new law against the ancient custom of foot binding. In this role, she traveled widely and was able to share Christ as she went about her official duties. Soon the Chinese were calling her “Ai-weh-deh,” which meant the “virtuous one.”

During her travels as foot inspector, Aylward came upon a woman begging by the road with a small child and soon learned that it was not the woman’s child but rather an orphan that she had kidnapped to aid her begging. Aylward bought the child for a handful of coins and took her under her own care. Soon that orphan was joined by another and then another, and Gladys Aylward’s mission to the orphans of China was born.

In 1938, war came to Yangchen when the Japanese bombed the city, killing many and driving the survivors to the mountains. By now a Chinese citizen, Aylward passed on military information to the Chinese army whenever she could. The Japanese placed a price of $100 on her head, but Aylward refused to seek her own safety (“Christians never retreat,” she wrote angrily to a Chinese guerilla warrior who ...

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