We talked a bit about this missionary to China on Sunday, here is an excerpt from a biography from this site.

On May 21, 1832, James Hudson Taylor was born in Yorkshire, England to an eloquent and able Methodist preacher and his gentle wife. As Hudson grew older he engaged as an assistant to a physician in Hull, and subsequently studied medicine at the London Hospital. Unknown to himself, his father, who had been deeply interested in China, had prayed that his son might go to that land as a missionary. It seemed that God also wished for Hudson to travel this path. A great interest was awakened in China through the Taiping Rebellion, which was then supposed to be a mass movement toward Christianity. This was coupled with exaggerated, but wonderful reports concerning China’s accessibility. And, lo and behold, the China Evangelization Society was founded. Not long after its opening, Hudson Taylor took up the yoke of God and offered himself to this Society. Hudson Taylor sailed for China on September 19, 1853. He had not even finished his medical studies.

From 1854 – 1860, Hudson worked in Swatow, Ningpo, and Shanghai. Ministering to the Chinese was a tough job. In those days, foreigners were not allowed into China’s interior; they were only allowed in five Chinese ports. Hudson, however, was burdened for those millions of Chinese people who had never heard of Christ, yet his sponsoring Society could not penetrate through the “walls” China had set up. So Hudson would work in other places, sometimes with the older missionaries of other societies. But during the six years of his occupation in China, Hudson retired from the China Evangelization Society, which subsequently ceased to exist, and continued as an independent worker, trusting God to supply his needs. Finally free to follow God’s spiritual “nudges”, Hudson dressed like a Chinese (even attaching a pigtail), ignored the political restrictions, and traveled along the inland canals, preaching the gospel. While his ministry continued, Hudson visited many places and God gave him blessings wherever he went. For instance, in Ningpo, Hudson met and married Miss Maria Dyer, daughter of the Rev. Samual Dyer of the London Missionary Society. Afterwards he grew ill and at a time when tremendous opportunities were opening up in China. His bad health forced him, with his wife and new daughter, to return to England.

Hudson was discouraged by this turn of events, but soon saw the advantage of his situation. While in England, recovering his health, Hudson was able to complete his medical studies which had been left unfinished in his haste to reach China. He also revised a Chinese New Testament and organized the China Inland Mission (CIM). The Mission’s goal was to bring the gospel where it had never been brought before. In other words, Hudson was determined to penetrate the places where China had forbidden foreigners from interacting with her people. And when his health improved, Hudson took his family and headed back to China in 1866 with over a dozen new missionaries. Yet the sufferings and hardships multiplied and Satan attacked viciously: Hudson’s daughter died from water on the brain, the family was almost murdered in the Yang Chow Riot of 1868, and Maria, Hudson’s wife, died in childbirth. Even with all these heartbreaks and fears, the CIM continued its work and by 1895 the Mission had 641 missionaries plus 462 Chinese helpers at 260 stations. Under Hudson Taylor’s leadership, CIM had supplied over half the Protestant missionary force in China. Though success was sweet, it had been achieved only with great sacrifices. One example is the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, 56 of these missionaries were martyred, and hundreds of Chinese Christians were killed.

Hudson’s ministry continued. He wrote many books as well