50 years ahead

Where might you find a 22-year-old, brilliant pianist with a top engineering degree? Backpacking in Australia on a year out? In 1908 James Fraser was in south-west China, soon to be the only missionary in the area. Sent by the CIM to Yunnan, a fortnight from Shanghai, Fraser was drawn to a strange people he met in the market. They were demon-worshipping Lisu from villages in the mountains bordering Burma.

Timothy Reynolds