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.