Christianity in Wenzhou rose from humble beginnings to one million adherents

The first church in Wenzhou was founded by a one-legged Scotsman named George Stott and his wife, Grace.

With no Chinese language training and little preparation, the couple started their work in Wenzhou in the late 1860s. Back then, the city was full of temples and gods, along with a strong anti-foreigner sentiment - a hangover from the opium wars.

Travelling between villages to preach to farmers, the Stotts were occasionally threatened and beaten. By 1887, when George Stott returned home because of his declining health, 300 people had become church members.

Scott died of tuberculosis two years later in Britain. His wife continued the mission in Wenzhou until 1908.

William Edward Soothill, who belonged to the United Methodist Free Churches in Britain, arrived in Wenzhou in 1872 when he was 20. It took him less than six months to learn the Wenzhou dialect. He soon founded a church with 30 local members. In 1902, he created a Roman script for the Wenzhou dialect and translated the New Testament into it, allowing many farmers to read the Bible.

Soothill's wife, Lucy Farrar, opened a girl's school in Wenzhou and the couple also provided some simple medical services. They helped found the earliest missionary hospitals in 1897 - the Blyth Hospital and John Dingley Hospital - the predecessors of today's Wenzhou Centre Hospital.