In early 1865, Stott learnt that
James Hudson Taylor was looking to recruit pioneer missionaries for his non-denominational
China Inland Mission. Stott was duly hired, provided with a new artificial leg and set sail for China on October 4, 1865. Arriving in
Shanghai on February 6, 1866, Stott quickly relocated to the port city of
Wenzhou in
Zhejiang province, where Christian teaching had been previously unknown. The oldest church in the city,
Chengxi Christian Church, still stands as a testimony to his work. As a result of the ongoing influence brought there by the Stotts and others, Wenzhou is known in China as the “Jerusalem of the East” because in the entire Wenzhou Municipality, which has 6 million inhabitants, there are more than 600,000 evangelical Protestants – 10% of the population. "In accepting Mr. Stott for mission work,
Hudson Taylor manifested faith, for no Society would have sent an amputee to such a country to pioneer work, and Mr. Stott often referred with gratitude to Mr. Taylor's acceptance of him. When asked why he, with only one leg, should think of going to China, his remark was, His wife and his followers learnt to handle his manner which could be direct. He increasingly came into conflict with Hudson Taylor and offered to resign in a protest letter. The CIM stopped sending recruits to his station and eventually they "let him go". Stott found out that he had cancer and he and Grace returned to Scotland. Stott died at
William Thomas Berger's house == References==