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loyal Chinese chroniclers did not claim any distinction for the town. A geography book published in Shanghai in 1931 found very little to recommend the town to its readers. The author devoted one brief paragraph to Taiho.
Even the most bustling part of Taiho is unpleasant. Dust is flying everywhere. The climate is bad; with frequent and heavy rains. Local products consist mainly of silk cocoons, common sorghum, and some hemp. Transportation is dependent on the Ying River, which is silted. At the deepest point there is no more than a six or seven foot draft, barely adequate for local craft, 10
The China Inland Mission was unusual in several respects. The workers were not limited to any particular denomination or nationality. As long as one was Protestant and was comfortable with Taylor's fairly basic theology, one was eligible to be considered as a missionary with the China Inland Mission. Thus, workers came from such countries as England, Germany, Sweden and the United States. Dr. M. Searle Bates, a Rhodes scholar who had taught at the University of Nanking, found that the Mission did not publish lists of its field workers lest they showed the comparative strength of each nationality. The Mission organized no formal church or school, but sent missionaries to live among the people in interior China. From the beginning, there were women missionaries. The axiom of “letting women do women's work" suited the social system of China. Women missionaries were to proselytize to women and children. By 1900, sixty percent of Protestant missionaries in China were women. Single women, including those unmarried and widowed, were to work alongside married missionaries.
The United States in 1900 was ready to expand in Asia. Victorious in the Spanish-American War and bulging with the Philippines, the Americans were looking to China. The value of American exports in 1870 was about $392 million. By 1900, it had increased to almost $1.4 billion. American producers, therefore, were looking for foreign markets. By then, European interests were already carving China into spheres of influence. After the Open Door Policy and the Boxer Protocol were