That man was Samuel Pollard (right). He and his friend Frank Dymond sailed off to south west China to start missionary work when they were only 22 years old.
After many hair-raising experiences, Sam arrived at his mission station, which was so small he had to keep his horse in the kitchen.
Sam travelled around dressed in Chinese clothes and wearing a pigtail, preaching and gathering a crown by banging a drum or blowing a trumpet.
His reputation reached a poor and uneducated group of oppressed people called the Miao people, who live in the mountains. They wanted to know more about Jesus and eventually several hundred came and refused to return without Sam Pollard.
It is Pollard’s ministry to the Miao people that has gained him an amazing reputation in China.
So much so that the previous president of China, Hu Jimtao, when he was governor of south west China, told his officials to be like Sam Pollard and look after the poor.
He also had Pollard’s grave reinstated after it was destroyed in the cultural revolution. There is a large building at Nanjing University and an educational institute both named after Pollard, and back here in Cornwall there is a Pollard Hall in Padstow where Sam Pollard came to give a talk and raise funds for his work in China.
People still remember that he came dressed in full Chinese costume, complete with pigtail.
To the Miao people, Sam Pollard is a saint and anything special that happens is attributed to him, even though he died in 1915 from typhoid fever after nursing a child with typhoid who survived.
One of the reasons for Sam Pollard’s fame is that he developed a written script for the Miao people who had no written language and Pollard Script is still used in slightly modified form by several ethnic groups in the far east.
It might seem strange that a communist government should want to make a film about a Cornishman born more than 150 years ago in Camelford. But this brave and determined missionary from Camelford is revered by many in China.