Photograph of Gladys Aylward from the Gladys Aylward collection
Born in 1902 in Edmonton, North London, Gladys Aylward was working as a housemaid when she decided to become a missionary. Rejected by the China Inland Mission for her lack of education, she went to China as an independent missionary in 1931. With virtually no money, she managed to travel all the wa...
| Full title: |
Photograph of Gladys Aylward from the Gladys Aylward collection [electronic resource]. |
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| Format: | Photo |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1936.
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| Series: |
SOAS Digital Library.
REGIONS. FORMATS. ARTE. REAS. ISOAS. |
| Subjects: | |
| Online access: |
Click here to view record |
| Summary: |
Born in 1902 in Edmonton, North London, Gladys Aylward was working as a housemaid when she decided to become a missionary. Rejected by the China Inland Mission for her lack of education, she went to China as an independent missionary in 1931. With virtually no money, she managed to travel all the way to the province of Shansi in North West China, via the Trans-Siberian Railway. Having become a Chinese citizen in 1936, she was to achieve international fame when, in 1940, against the background of civil war and the Japanese invasion, she led a large group of orphans on a perilous journey to safety in Sian. Her life story was the basis of the 1959 film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, in which Gladys, nicknamed the ‘London Sparrow’ because of her tiny stature, was played by the statuesque Ingrid Bergman (Text by Susannah Rayner, from the exhibition catalogue: Objects of instruction : treasures of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Anna Contadini, Editor. London : SOAS, University of London, 2007.) |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1936.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Series: |
SOAS Digital Library.
REGIONS. FORMATS. ARTE. REAS. ISOAS. |
| Place of Publication: |
China -- Shanxi Sheng -- Yangchen. |