[3] On 15 October 1930, having worked for Sir Francis Younghusband,[4] Aylward spent her life savings on a train passage to Yangcheng, Shanxi Province, China.

For a time she served as an assistant to the Government of the Republic of China as a "foot inspector" by touring the countryside to enforce the new law against footbinding of young Chinese girls.

[8] In 1938, the region was invaded by Japanese forces, and Aylward led more than 100 orphans to safety over the mountains, despite being wounded and sick, personally caring for them (and converting many to Christianity).

[11] The tall (1.75m/5' 9"), blonde Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman was inconsistent with Aylward's small stature, dark hair, and North London accent.

The struggles of Aylward and her family to effect her initial trip to China were disregarded in favor of a movie plot device of an employer 'condescending to write to "his old friend" Jeannie Lawson'.

Also, Aylward's dangerous, complicated travels across Russia, China, and Japan were reduced to 'a few rude soldiers', after which 'Hollywood's train delivered her neatly to Tientsin'.

[13] Colonel Lin Nan was portrayed as half-European, a change which she found insulting to his real Chinese lineage, and she felt that the Hollywood-embellished love scenes in the film damaged her reputation.

[11] Aylward died on 3 January 1970, about a month and a half short of her 68th birthday, and was buried in a small cemetery on the campus of Christ's College in Guandu, New Taipei, Taiwan.