Travelling with a young missionary, Arthur Gostick Shorrock, they visited Ceylon, Madras, Agra, Benares, Delhi, Calcutta and finally Bombay.

In China, Timothy Richard became a contributor to the monthly Wan Guo Gong Bao, or Review of the Times, which Young John Allen founded and edited from 1868 to 1907.

During the First Sino-Japanese War period of 1894–1895, essay titles included: “International Intercourse, by a descendant of Confucius,” “How to Enrich a Nation, by Dr. Joseph Edkins”, “The Prime Benefits of Christianity, by the Rev.

Timothy Richard,” and “On the Suppression of Doubt and the Acceptance of Christ, by Sung Yuh-kwei.” The articles attributed practical applications to the Christian faith and portrayed Christianity as a useful concept for the Chinese, one that Allen and his contributors intended to portray on an equal level to concepts such as market economics and international law.

Richard also translated Looking Backward into Chinese as 百年一覺 Bainian Yi Jiao,[4] and part of Wu Cheng'en's novel, Journey to the West into English.