China is poised to play a most significant role in the third millennium. This authoritative history by Dr Broomhall traces the influences of Protestant and Catholic missions and the work of the United Bible Societies during the 19th century on the development of modern-day China. Whereas previous historians in this field had worked mainly from secondary sources, Dr Boomhall drew on the first-hand observations, most significantly by his great uncle, James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, who was described by the historian K.S. Latourette as "one of the four or five most influential foreigners who came to China in the mid-nineteenth century".