Recounting the 40 years of a missionary's traveling and engaging with communities across Southeast Asia and China, Mission to China: The Life of Walter Henry Medhurst will be showcased at the London Book Fair 2025 as part of the New Title Showcase from March 11-13.
Authored by John Holliday, the great-grandson of Walter Henry Medhurst, the book chronicles the perilous journey of Medhurst as an English printer, missionary, and adventurer. Medhurst spent over 20 years working with Chinese communities throughout Asia before arriving in China in 1835 and settling in Shanghai in 1843.
Notably, as a missionary to China, a historically closed country, Medhurst had to deploy unique skills and diplomatic tactics to navigate Chinese authorities. Though his conversions were limited, his lasting legacy includes the London Missionary Society's Mission Centre in Shanghai, Parapattan Orphanage, All Saints' Jakarta, the Shanghai Mission Press, and a Chinese Bible translation used for over 70 years.
