Aylward, Gladys (1902-1970), spent about 17 years as an independent Christian missionary in China. In Yangcheng, Shanxi Province, she helped to run an inn for muleteers (mule drivers), where she taught Christianity by telling Bible stories. She traveled widely as an official foot inspector, convincing mothers not to bind their daughters’ feet. In 1940, during a war between Japan and China, Aylward led about 100 homeless children across the mountains from Yangcheng to Xi’an.
Gladys May Aylward was born in the suburb of Edmonton, now part of London, on Feb. 24, 1902. She failed training as a missionary, but after a period working as a parlor maid, she saved enough money to pay her own way to China. She returned to England in 1949. She spent most of the last 12 years of her life doing charitable work in Taiwan. Aylward died on Jan. 1, 1970.
Some of Aylward’s experiences are told in The Small Woman (1957), a book by Alan Burgess. A motion picture, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), was also based on her life.
