Boxer Rebellion

"The Boxers" redirects here. For other uses, see Boxers (disambiguation).

Boxer Rebellion
Traditional Chinese	義和團運動
Simplified Chinese	义和团运动
Literal meaning	Righteous Harmony Society Movement
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yìhétuán Yùndòng

Boxer Rebellion
Boxers fighting the Eight-Nation Alliance (British and Japanese soldiers depicted)
Date 2 November 1899 – 7 September 1901 Location Northern China Result Alliance victory
Belligerents
Eight-Nation Alliance (ordered by contribution): Japan Russia United Kingdom France United States Germany Italy Austria-Hungary Qing Empire (Pro Foreign Faction)	Qing Empire (Anti Foreign Faction)	Righteous Harmony Society
Commanders and leaders
Nikolai Petrovich Linevich Sir Edward Seymour Alfred Graf von Waldersee Prince Qing	Ci Xi Zaiyi, Prince Duan Ronglu Yuan Shikai Nie Shicheng † Ma Yukun Song Qing (general) Dong Fuxiang Ma Anliang Ma Fulu † Ma Fuxiang Ma Fuxing Ma Haiyan Ma Qi Ma Lin (warlord) Colonel Yao Wang	Cao Futian Ni Zanqing
Strength
50,255 total (Expeditionary Force) Russia100,000 Russian troops for Manchurian Occupation 10,000 Imperial Manchu Bannermen(Loyal to Prince Qing)	70,000 Imperial troops including 10,000 Muslim Kansu Braves several thousand Manchu Bannermen of the Tiger and Divine Corps(loyal to Prince Duan)	100,000 – 300,000 Boxers
Casualties and losses
2,500 soldiers 526 foreigners several thousand Chinese Christians	20,000 Imperial troops	Civilians = 18,952+

The Boxer Rebellion, also called The Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" (义和团 - Yìhétuán), or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" (known as "Boxers" in English), in China between 1898 and 1901, opposing Western imperialism and Christianity. The uprising took place in response to European "spheres of influence" in China, with grievances ranging from opium traders, political invasion, economic manipulation, to missionary evangelism. In China, popular sentiment remained resistant to Western influences, and anger rose over the "unequal treaties" (不平等條約), which the weak Qing state could not resist. There existed growing concerns that missionaries and Chinese Christians could use this decline to their advantage, appropriating lands and property of unwilling Chinese peasants to give to the church. This sentiment resulted in violent revolts against Western interests.

Among ordinary Chinese, the Boxers enjoyed massive popular support. However, perceptions of the Boxers, among 20th century Chinese intellectuals and modern scholars, remains nuanced, complex, and contentious. The failures of the Boxer Rebellion initially humiliated educated Chinese nationalists, who disdained them for their superstition and aggression. Sun Yat-sen "praised the Boxers for their spirit of resistance" but "called the Boxers 'bandits', as many educated Chinese of his generation did". Students of the era shared an ambivalent attitude to the Boxers, stating that while the uprising originated from the "ignorant and stubborn people of the interior areas", the beliefs were "brave and righteous", and could "be transformed into a moving force for independence". Western intellectuals remained sympathetic to the Boxers. Mark Twain said that "The Boxer is a patriot. He loves his country better than he does the countries of other people. I wish him success." And, as fervour against the Qing state rose, educated Chinese too became sympathetic to the Boxers. Chen Duxiu forgave the "barbarism of the Boxer... given the crime foreigners committed in China", and contended that it was those "subservient to the foreigners" that truly "deserved our resentment".

The Boxers called foreigners "Guizi" (鬼子), a deprecatory term, and condemned Chinese Christian converts and Chinese working for Westerners By 1898, spurred on by state fiscal collapse and natural disasters, the Boxers emerged out of Shandong, violently targeting Christian mission compounds. Initially, they were suppressed by the Qing Dynasty, but the two sides reconciled and attempted to expel foreign influence from China, fighting under the anti-imperialist slogan "扶清灭洋" ("Support Qing, destroy the Western").

In 1900, Boxer fighters besieged the foreign embassies in Beijing. They were lightly armed, claiming supernatural invulnerability towards blows of cannon, rifle gunshots, and knife attacks. In response, the initially hesitant Empress Dowager Cixi, urged by the conservatives of the Imperial Court, supported the Boxers and declared war on foreign powers. Diplomats, foreign civilians, soldiers and Chinese Christians retreated to the Legation Quarter where they remained under siege for 55 days until the Eight-Nation Alliance brought 20,000 armed troops to defeat the besieging Imperial Army. During the siege, pro foreign Imperial army units under Prince Qing fought against the anti foreign Imperial army units besieging the foreigners, in addition, the supreme commander of the Chinese forces, Ronglu, was pro foreign himself and acted in a way that prevented Chinese success. The Boxer Protocol of 7 September 1901 ended the uprising and provided for severe punishments, including an indemnity of 67-million pounds (450 million taels of silver, to be paid as indemnity over a course of 39 years) to the eight nations involved.

Origins of the Boxers

Boxers, by Johannes Koekkoek circa 1900.

The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, known by foreigners as the Boxers, or "I-Ho Magic Boxing", was a secret society founded in the northern coastal province of Shandong. Westerners came to call well-trained, athletic young men "Boxers" due to the martial arts and calisthenics they practiced. The Boxers' primary feature is spirit possession, which involved whirling and twirling of swords, violent prostrations, and chanting incantations to Taoist and Buddhist spirits. When the spirit possession had achieved, the boxers would allegedly obtain invulnerability against firing guns and cannons.

The Boxers believed that they could, through training, diet, martial arts and prayer, perform extraordinary feats, such as flight, and could become immune to swords and bullets. Further, they popularly claimed that millions of spirit soldiers would descend from the heavens and assist them in purifying China of foreign influences. The Boxers consisted of local farmers/peasants and other workers made desperate by disastrous floods and widespread opium addiction, and found blame in Christian missionaries, Chinese Christians, and the Europeans colonizing their country. Missionaries were protected under the policy of extraterritoriality. Aggression toward missionaries and Christians gained the attention of foreign (mainly European) governments.

Several secret societies in Shandong predated the Boxers. In 1895, the Manchu Yuxian, a magistrate in the province, acquired the help of the Big Swords Society in fighting against Bandits. The Big Swords practiced heterodox practices, however, they were not bandits and were not seen as bandits by Chinese authorities. They were so efficient in defeating banditry that a flood of cases overwhelmed the magistrates, so the Big Swords just executed Bandits to save them trouble. The Big Swords relentlessly crushed the bandits, but the bandits converted to Catholic Christianity, because it made them legally immune to prosecution and under the protection of the foreigners. The Big Swords proceeded to attack the bandit Catholic churches and burn them. Yuxian only executed several Big Sword leaders, but did not punish anyone else. More secret societies started emerging after this.

Chinese Christians also filed false lawsuits and caused major religious disputes.

After the Hundred Days' Reform failed, the conservative Empress Dowager Cixi seized power and put the reformist Guangxu Emperor into house arrest. The European powers were sympathetic to the imprisoned emperor, and opposed Cixi's plan to replace the Guangxu emperor. Empress Dowager Cixi decided to use Boxers to expel foreign influences from China; meanwhile, the Boxers would be weakened by foreign forces. Then the Boxer slogan became "support the Qing, destroy the Foreign." (扶清灭洋) [3]

The majority of the Boxers were people who lost their livelihoods due to imperialism and natural disasters.

One Boxer leader, Zhu Hongdeng (Chu Hung-teng) (Name means red lantern Zhu) claimed descent from Ming dynasty Emperors, his surname, Zhu, was the same surname as the Ming Imperial Family, and he announced that his goal was "Fan Ch'ing Fu Ming" (Fan Qing Fu Ming) (Overthrow Qing to Restore Ming). It was changed to "Fu Ch'ing Mieh Yang" (Fu Qing Mie Yang) (Support Qing, Destroy Foreigners). The name of the Boxers themselves was changed from Yihetuan to Yihequan by the Manchu Yuxian, to signify its pro Qing dynasty stance.

Causes of the Boxer Rebellion

Chinese donate silver ingots to Zeng Guoquan to assist him in destroying the Russian Army

In 1900, the great powers had been chipping away at Chinese sovereignty for sixty years. They had forced China to import opium, causing widespread addiction, defeated China in several wars, asserted a right to promote Christianity, and imposed unequal treaties under which foreigners and foreign companies in China were accorded special privileges and immunities from Chinese law. Thus, by 1900, the Qing dynasty that had ruled China for more than two centuries was crumbling and Chinese culture was under assault by powerful alien religious and secular culture.

Several factors contributed to the unrest among Chinese that led to the growth and spread of the Boxer movement. First, a drought, followed by floods, in Shandong province in 1897-1898 forced farmers to flee to cities to seek food. As one observer said, "I am convinced that a few days' heavy rainfall to terminate the long-continued drought...would do more to restore tranquility than any measures which either the Chinese government or foreign governments can take."

By 1900, the western powers had grabbed land and asserted unequal treaties and extraterritorial rights for their citizens in China, causing resentment among the Chinese. France, Japan, Russia, and Germany carved out spheres of influence, so that by 1900 it appeared that China would likely be dismembered, with foreign powers each ruling a part of the country. The British and Americans wished China to remain intact, though, while retaining their privileges and treaty ports. The British dominated trade with China, including the important opium trade.

German priest George Stenz's antagonistic behavior antagonized Chinese inhabitants of villages in 1897. In response, Chinese people stormed into his residence, and killed two priests while looking for George, who was not present.

A major cause of Chinese discontent was the Christian missionaries, Protestant and Roman Catholic, who came to China in ever increasing numbers. The exemption of missionaries from many laws alienated local Chinese. In 1899, with the help of the French Minister in Beijing, the missionaries obtained an edict granting official rank to each order in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Local priests, by means of this official status, were able to support their people in legal disputes or family feuds and go over the heads of local officials. After the German government took over territory in Shandong, many Chinese feared that the missionaries, and by extension all Christians, were part of an imperialist attempt to "carve the melon," that is, to divide China and colonize the pieces separately. A Chinese official expressed the brief against the foreigners succinctly, "Take away your missionaries and your opium and you will be welcome."

A Chinese Buddhist temple in Lilienyuan village was converted into a Catholic church by missionaries, which caused widespread anger among the Chinese population. The Chinese Imperial army discharged one third of its soldiers, whereupon most of them joined the Boxers. They also kept their weapons, so that the Boxers were able to use firearms instead of just swords and spears.

The openly racist German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who specifically directed his racism at Asians, encouraged Yellow Peril fears to spread among Europe and also encouraged violence against Chinese. The Kaiser used the Yellow Peril fears to explain Germany's rush to steal concessions in China.

The German Baron Clemens von Ketteler brutally attacked a Chinese civilian without provocation, and also beat a boy. In response, thousands of Chinese Muslim Kansu warriors, under General Dong Fuxiang of the Imperial Army, along with the Boxers, went on a rampage against the westerners. A Manchu Captain, En Hai, killed von Ketteler during an encounter. A Muslim commander then ripped the skin off the Baron and ate his heart.

A Boxer during the revolt.

The growth of the Boxer movement coincided with the Hundred Days Reform (11 June–21 September 1898). Progressive Chinese officials—with support from Protestant missionaries—persuaded the Guangxu Emperor to institute reforms, which alienated many conservative officials by their sweeping nature, and which led the Empress Dowager to intervene and reverse the reforms. The failure of the reform movement disillusioned many educated Chinese, contributing to the weakness of the Qing government.

The first conflicts of the Boxer Rebellion were in Shandong province. Suppressed there—and the farmers being pacified by timely rains—the shadowy Boxer movement spread northward in early 1900. By late May, the thousands of Western and Japanese businessmen, soldiers, and missionaries in Beijing and Tianjin and throughout northern China perceived it as a serious threat to foreign and Christian lives, properties, and privileges.

Commitment of Imperial Army

Chinese forces in 1899-1901.
Left: two infantrymen of the New Imperial Army. Front: drum major of the regular army. Seated on the trunk: field artilleryman. Right: Boxers.

Now with a majority of conservatives in the Imperial Court the Empress Dowager changed her long policy of suppressing Boxers; she issued edicts in defense of the Boxers, which drew heated complaints from foreign diplomats in January 1900. In June 1900 the Boxers, now joined by elements of the Imperial army, attacked foreign compounds in the cities of Tianjin and Beijing. The legations of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, Russia and Japan were all located on the Beijing Legation Quarter close to the Forbidden City in Beijing. The legations were hurriedly linked into a fortified compound that became a refuge for foreign citizens in Beijing. The Spanish and Belgian legations were a few streets away and their staffs were able to arrive safely at the compound. The German legation on the other side of the city was stormed before the staff could escape. When the envoy for the German Empire, Klemens Freiherr von Ketteler, was murdered on 20 June by a Manchurian man, the foreign powers demanded redress. On 21 June Empress Dowager Cixi declared war against all Western powers; regional governors, including Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, quietly refused to cooperate. Shanghai's Chinese elite supported the provincial governors of southeastern China in resisting the Imperial declaration of war. Later many peasants took up arms and joined the Boxers' cause, but were also defeated.

During the war, Cixi displayed concern about China's situation and foreign aggression, saying of the Boxers, "Perhaps their magic is not to be relied upon; but can we not rely on the hearts and minds of the people? Today China is extremely weak. We have only the people's hearts and minds to depend upon. If we cast them aside and lose the people's hearts, what can we use to sustain the country?" The Chinese people were almost unanimous in their support for the Boxers, due to the Western Allied invasion.

Chinese Forces

Equipment and Tactics

The Chinese Imperial army was equipped with modern Mauser repeater rifles, Krupp Artillery, and swords. The Chinese artillery was reported to be superior to allied artillery, and very accurate.

It was reported that the German Krupp Artillery used by the Chinese army fired salvoes without stopping against the Allies. Chinese Imperial army grouped their artillery into batteries.

The Chinese employed pincer movements, ambushes, and sniper tactics with success against the foreigners. Mining, engineering, flooding, and simultaneous multiple attacks were employed by Chinese troops along with modern artillery.

Leaders

Zaiyi, Prince Duan, was not just an ordinary prince, he was a member of the Imperial Aisin Gioro clan, a blood relative of the Imperial family (westerners called him a "Blood Royal"), therefore, his son was his line for the throne. He became the effective leader of the Boxers, and he was extremely anti foreign like his friend Dong Fuxiang, and wanted to expel them from China. Dong Fuxiang was called"savage" by the westerners. the Manchu General Ronglu, on the other hand, was not a blood relative of the Imperial Aisin Gioro Clan, only being related by marriage to the Imperial Family, and he tried to sabotage Zaiyi, Prince Duan and Dong Fuxiang. Prince Qing, a Prince, was pro foreign and led his bannermen accordingly to attack Prince Duan's forces.

Imperial Army Muslim Kansu Braves

Chinese Muslim troops from Gansu of the Qing imperial army serving under General Dong Fuxiang; they were also known as the "Kansu braves" or "Gansu Braves".

Muslim General Dong Fuxiang

A Muslim martial artist, Wang Zi-Ping, had joined the Boxers when it began fighting against the foreigners.

A unit of 10,000 Hui Muslims from Gansu under the command of the Chinese Muslim General Dong Fuxiang had been stationed with the rest of the imperial army at Beijing since 1898. They were known as the "Kansu braves". Dong was extremely anti-foreign, and gave full support to Cixi and the boxers. General Dong committed his Muslim troops to join the Boxers to attack the Eight-Nation Alliance. They were put into the rear division, and attacked the legations relentlessly. The westerners called them the "10,000 Islamic rabble". Casualties suffered by the alliance at the hands of the Muslim troops were high enough that the United States Marine Corps, tasked with guarding U.S. embassies, as it is today, was involved. A Japanese chancellor, Sugiyama Akira, and several westerners were shot to death by the Muslim braves. It was reported that the Muslim troops were going to wipe out the foreigners to return a golden age for China, and the Muslims repeatedly attacked foreign churches, railways, and legations, before hostilities even started. The Muslim troops were armed with modern repeater rifles and artillery, and reportedly enthusiastic about going on the offensive and killing foreigners. They fired on the Austrian legation. Dong intensely hated foreigners, refusing to use Western uniforms and musical instruments for his band, instead, his Muslim troops wore Chinese military uniform and played Chinese instruments. However, he armed with troops with modern western weapons like Krupp Artillery and Mauser rifles. The Muslim troops actively attacked the foreigners during the Hundred Days Reform in 1898. The Muslim Kansu troops were known for hating foreigners. They acted violently and provatively toward the foreign troops. In contrast to the Manchu and other Chinese soldiers who used arrows and bows, the Kansu cavalry had the newest carbine rifles.

General Dong Fuxiang and Manchu Prince Tuan were linked through Prince Tuan's father, Prince Tun, who reached an agreement with Dong in 1869.

The Boxers were ordered by the Imperial court to take commands from Dong Fuxiang and the Muslim Kansu troops. The war was seen as a Jihad by the Muslim troops.

Dong Fuxiang's troops laid mines which blew up a Russian paddle Steamer at Shanhaiguan, inflicting many casualties upon the Russians.

Dong Fuxiang's troops attack on the Dagu (Taku) forts. News of temporarily successful attack led the Dowager Empress to declare war, and decree Imperial backing for the Boxers. The forts were eventually captured by the 8 nation alliance

Several bloody incidents between the Muslim warriors and the western troops broke out. The Muslims chucked stones at German troops. The Muslim troops along with the Boxers, attacked Russian marines at the wall in the Tartar city on June 23, and a German Marine was killed. The Kansu Muslim warriors murdered a Japanese and mutilated the body of the German Baron Clemens von Ketteler. The Kansu warriors hated the Christians intensely. The Muslims were mostly cavalry, waving scarlet and block banners, with Mauser rifles. They also wore black turbans

On June 18, Dong Fuxiang's troops, including Muslim General Ma Fuxiang, stationed at Hunting Park in southern Beijing, attacked Lang Fang. The forces included cavalry at 5,000 troops, armed with modern magazine rifles. The Chinese feinted first with the Boxers masking the Muslim troops, when the foreign troops attacked, the Boxers dispersed and the Muslim troops opened fire.

5,000 Muslim troops led by Dong Fuxiang defeated the 8 nation alliance force led by the British Admiral Seymour at the Battle of Langfang on Jun 18. The Chinese won a major victory, and forced Seymour to retreat back to Tianjin by Jun 26, and Seymour's western army suffered heavy casualties. As the allied European army retreated from Langfang, they were constantly fired upon by the Muslim cavalry, and Chinese Muslim artillery bombarded their positions. It was reported that the Chinese artillery was superior to the European artillery, since the Europeans did not bother to bring along much for the campaign, thinking they could easily sweep through Chinese resistance. The Europeans could not locate the Chinese artillery, which was raining shells upon their positions. The Chinese villages were nests for Imperial Chinese army and Boxer resistance, and Chinese snipers poured fire out of loopholes, killing any foreigner who stepped out onto the streets. The snipers proved impossible to remove.

Chinese artillery accuracy was excellent, some tearing straight through the Allied military barracks. The London Times noted that "10,000 European troops were held in check by 15,000 Chinese braves". The artillery caused casualties to continually build up. A group of allied soldiers narrowly escaped after Chinese artillery shells almost destroyed their train. The French and Japanese suffered heavily, and the Russians and British lost some men on the retreat as well.

Dong Fuxiang's Muslim forces defeated the Allied army at the Battle of Beicang on August 1st

Dong Fuxiang's Muslim troops gained victory over the Western forces at Tianjin, the image shows bodies and limbs being thrown to the sky

Dong Fuxiang's Muslim forces defeated the Westerners led by Seymour on August 1 outside of Tianjin at the Battle of Beicang. They bombarded the city and mined a Russian paddle steamer at the Battle of Shanhaiguan (1900), inflicting many casualties. At Shanhaiguan the Chinese Muslims also torpedoed Russian ships with torpedoes.

Dong Fuxiang became a national hero in China for fighting against the foreigners, and his personality was appealing. Around Tianjin in the summer of 1900 the Chinese Muslims inflicted numerous defeats upon the foreigners.

The allied foreigners at the legations feared the Islamic troops. The Chinese military victories undid the Western claim that a foreign army could occupy China without opposition from the Chinese.

It was only because General Ronglu, who was supervising Dong Fuxiang's attack on the Legations forced Dong to pull back from completing the siege and destroying the legations were the foreigners saved.

Reportedly the Muslim commander sat on the skin and ate the heart of the German minister von Ketteler.

Another Muslim general, Ma Anliang, Tongling of Ho-Chou, joined the Kansu braves in fighting the foreigners.

The Islamic troops were organized into eight battalions of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, two brigades of artillery, and one company of engineers. The Muslim troops reportedly intimidated the Western forces. The Muslims were reportedly eager to join the Boxers and attack the foreigners. They killed a Westerner outside Yungting gate. At Zhengyang gate, Muslim troops engaged in combat against British forces.

Summary of battles of General Dong Fuxiang:

• Ts'ai Ts'un battle, July 24
• Ho Hsi Wu battle, July 25
• An P'ing battle, July 26
• Chinese army at Ma T'ou, July 27.

Six thousand of the Muslim troops under Dong Fuxiang and 20,000 boxers repulsed a relief column, driving them to Huang Ts'un. The Muslims made camp outside the temples of Heaven and Agriculture.

The Muslim Kansu Braves were incorporated into the bodyguard of Empress Dowager Cixi, Dong Fuxiang was anti foreign and it was reported that the Arab descended Kansu Muslim braves were going to fight the Seymour expedition which was marching from Tianjin. General Dong Fuxiang became Commander-In-Chief of all the Chinese armies, and declared that his forces would resist the German Count von Waldersee.

Muslim General Ma Fuxiang

Muslim Commander Ma Fuxing

The Muslim Kansu braves escorted the imperial family to Xi'an when they decided to flee. One of the officers, Ma Fuxiang, was rewarded by the Emperor, being appointed governor of Altay for his service. His brother, Ma Fulu and four of his cousins died in combat during the attack on the legations. Ma Fuxing also served under Ma Fulu to guard the Qing Imperial court during the fighting.

6,000 of the Muslim Kansu soldiers were located in the middle of the path between Machia Pu and Beijing. Moderates at the Qing court tried to appease the foreigners by moving the Kansu braves out of their way. The imperial government refused to punish General Dong when the foreigners demanded his execution.

Upon General Dong's death in 1908, all honors which had been stripped from him were restored and he was given a full military burial.

The Allied military officers agreed with the Chinese descriptions that the Imperial troops were brave, and the Boxers were fierce.

The German Kaiser Wilhelm II was so alarmed by the Chinese Muslim troops that he requested the Caliph Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire to find a way to stop the Muslim troops from fighting. He agreed to the Kaiser's demands and sent Enver Pasha to China in 1901, but the rebellion was over by that time.

Imperial Army Han Troops

Chinese Troops in 1900

Han General Nie Shicheng who fought both the Boxers and the Allies

The Han Chinese Imperial army forces were led by Generals Nie Shicheng, Ma Yukun, and Song Qing.

Some of the Chinese Imperial army forces fought the Boxers and the Western Allies at the same time. General Nie's army was one of these. The Boxers and General Nie's army both beat the western Allied army under Seymour. (See: Seymour Expedition, China 1900 The Chinese Army used modern weapons to beat the Allies and the Boxers at the same time. While General Nie opposed the Boxers, the other Imperial army General, Dong Fuxiang and his Muslim soldiers joined the Boxers.

A large part of western victories was not due to their own military prowess, rather, it was due to rivalries between the Boxers and the Chinese Imperial army, and conflicting orders given to Chinese Generals by the court. The court first ordered General Nie to fight the Boxers, then with them, then fight against the Western Allies and the Boxers at the same time, and it also ordered General Nie not to use all the force at his disposal to crush the Allied troops, which resulted in the Chinese forces actually deliberately letting the Allied forces escape, after the Chinese mauled them at the Battle of Langfang.

Another factor in the Chinese defeat in the war was the fact that Chinese Generals like Yuan Shikai refused to send their own modernized armies to help General Nie against the Allies, instead, waiting the whole war out.

Imperial Army Manchu Bannermen

Several Manchu princes such as Prince Ching declined to join the boxers and the rest of the imperial army to attack the legations, and even ordered their own Manchu Bannermen to attack the Boxers and the Muslim Kansu braves.

Other Manchu banners, especially the Three modernized divisions, joined the Kansu Braves and Boxers in attacking the foreigners. They were totally smashed at the end of the war and left only the Muslim Kansu Braves to guard to Imperial court. Among the Manchu dead was the father of the writer Lao She.

Prince Duan commanded his own Manchu Bannermen division, Marksmen for the Tiger Hunt, also known as the "Tiger Spirit Division" (虎神营). It had 10,000 troops in it. It was one of the three modernized Manchu Banner Divisions. Tiger was code for "foreigner", as Prince Duan named his division, he was plotting to kill all the foreign diplomats in the legations.

The campaign in Manchuria was conducted by both the regular Imperial army, including Manchu Bannermen and Imperial Chinese troops, and the Boxers.

The Chinese treated Russian civilians leniently and allowed them to escape to Russia, even notifying them since a state of war existed, that they should leave the war zone, by contrast, Russian Cossacks brutally killed civilians who tried to flee in the Chinese villages, westerners noted that the Chinese followed "civilized warfare" while the Russians massacred and butchered. The Chinese summoned all available men to fight, and the Chinese forces and garrisons gathered artillery and bombarded Russian troops and towns across the Amur. Despite the Cossacks repulsing Chinese army crossings into Russia, the Chinese army troops increased the amount of artillery and kept up the bombardment. In revenge for the attacks on Chinese villages, Boxer troops burned Russian towns and almost annihilated a Russian force at Tielen.

The Russians invaded Manchuria during the rebellion, which was defended by Manchu bannermen. The bannermen were annihilated as they fought to the death against the Russians, each falling one at a time against a five pronged Russian invasion. The Russians killed many of the Manchus, thousands of them fled south. The Russian Cossacks looted their villages and property and then burnt them to ashes. Manchuria was completely occupied after the fierce fighting that occurred.

Boxers

The Boxers themselves used modern weaponry like Krupp artillery and rifles, their dislike of Westerners only extended to everything which was not related to weaponry. The Boxers attacked both the Qing Imperial Army under General Nie, and the foreign Allied Powers. They used sabotage tactics like razing railroads and telegraph lines in order to deny the Western forces any means of transport and communication.

Numerous attacks on foreigners occurred, missionaries and Christian converts were killed. Boxers with rifles and swords attacked Russian Cossacks in June, 1900, both sides suffered casualties.

Dong Fuxiang was a sworn brother to Li Lai chung, another Boxer supporter and anti foreigner. Li commander Boxers from Shansi against the foreign forces.

Lack of Coordination and Sabotage

The Manchu General Ronglu deliberately sabotaged the performance of the Imperial army. When Dong Fuxiang's Muslim troops were eager to and could have destroy the foreigners in the legations, Ronglu stopped them from doing so. The Manchu General Zaiyi, Prince Duan, was xenophobic and was friends with Dong Fuxiang. Zaiyi wanted artillery for Dong Fuxiang's troops to destroy the legations. Ronglu blocked the transfer of artillery to Zaiyi and Dong, preventing them from destroying the legations. When artillery was finally supplied to the Imperial Army and Boxers, it was only done so in limited amounts, Ronglu deliberately held back the rest of them.

Ronglu and Prince Qing even sent food to the legations, and used their Manchu Bannermen to attack the Muslim Kansu Braves of Dong Fuxiang and the Boxers who were besieging the foreigners. They even issued edicts ordering the foreigners to be protected, but the Kansu warriors ignored it, and fought against Bannermen who tried to force them away from the legations.

It was Ronglu and other "moderates", who withdrew the Kansu Muslim warriors from Beijing, in order to let the foreigners march right in. The Muslim troops were feared intensely by the foreigners.

Ronglu also deliberately hid an Imperial Decree from General Nie Shicheng. The Decree ordered him to stop fighting the Boxers due to the foreign invasion, and also because the population was suffering from the campaign against the Boxers. Due to Ronglu's treachery, General Nie continued to fight against the Boxers and killed many of them, while the foreign invaders were making their way into China. Ronglu also ordered Nie to protect foreigners and save the railway from the Boxers.

During the war, due to the fact that parts of the Railway were saved under Ronglu's orders, the foreign invasion army was able to transport itself into China quickly.

Due to Ronglu's sabotage, General Nie was forced to fight the Boxers as the foreign army advanced into China. The fierce Boxer insurgency led General Nie to commit thousands of troops against them, instead of against the foreigners. Nie was already outnumbered by the Allies by 4,000 men. General Nie was blamed for attacking the Boxers, as Ronglu intended to sabotage Nie and let him take all the blame. At the Battle of Tiensten, General Nie decided to take his own life by walking into the range of Allied guns.

A large part of western victories was not due to their own military prowess, rather, it was due to rivalries between the Boxers and the Chinese Imperial army, and conflicting orders given to Chinese Generals by the court. The court first ordered General Nie to fight the Boxers, then with them, then fight against the Western Allies and the Boxers at the same time, and it also ordered General Nie not to use all the force at his disposal to crush the Allied troops, which resulted in the Chinese forces actually deliberately letting the Allied forces escape, after the Chinese mauled them at the Battle of Langfang. The Boxers reportedly were able to destroy the Allied force completely, but the Chinese Military ordered them to stand down.

Massacre of missionaries and Chinese Christians

The Holy Chinese Martyrs

The Taiyuan Massacre was the mass killing of foreign Christian missionaries and of local church members, including children, from July 1900. Two hundred and twenty two Chinese Eastern Orthodox Christians were also killed, along with 182 Protestant missionaries and 500 Chinese Protestants known as the China Martyrs of 1900. Also, 48 Catholic missionaries and 18,000 Chinese Catholics were killed. The Muslim Kansu braves under General Dong Fuxiang joined the Boxers in targeting Chinese Christians, going house to house to check the people's religious beliefs. The Muslim Kansu braves targeted Christians only, sparing Chinese who had altars to Chinese gods. Christians were executed by the Muslim braves with swords, the Muslims considered them traitors to China and agents of the foreigners. When the Kansu Muslims found homes that had idols to Chinese Gods, proving that they were not Christian, they sat down to have tea and apologized, not harming anyone, while relieving their hosts of several thousands dollars worth of property.

The Missionary Herald normally published letters and telegrams sent by priests and their families in Manchu Qing dynasty, in Shanxi province, Taiyuan city. In December 1900, after incrementally more ominous monthly reports, the Missionary Herald broke five-month-old news to its readers: "the entire mission staff in the Province of Shanxi has perished". At the end of June 1900 priests and their families had been lured out of hiding and cast into prison, then executed by the Manchu officials. The Taiyuan missionaries fled into a co-worker's house because Boxers were burning churches and houses, killing Christians and foreigners. Three days later the governor sent four deputies with soldiers, "promising to escort them in safety to the coast". Brought instead to a house near the governor’s residence, they were then "taken to the open space in front of the Governor’s residence, and stripped to the waist, as usual with those beheaded".

By June 1900 placards calling for the death of foreigners and Christians covered the walls around Beijing. Armed bands combed the streets of the city, setting fire to homes and "with imperial blessing" killing Chinese Christians and foreigners

— Father Geoffrey Korz, of the Orthodox church

In 2005 British Professor Henry Hart released a book, Lost in the Gobi Desert, to commemorate his great-grandfather's efforts to save the life of western missionaries and their Chinese followers from the hands of the Boxer rebels:

Boxers blamed “foreign devils” like my great-grandparents for causing northern China's drought and famine, exacerbating economic hardships by building railroads and telegraph lines (because such modern conveniences eliminated jobs), undermining the native textile industry with European imports, infecting and killing Chinese children with Christian prayers and for various other real and imagined infamies.

The barbaric Boxer Rebellion came as a sudden thunderstorm; all foreigners were to be killed not in the sudden merciful death of a bullet but sliced to death by big, old rusty knives and swords.... I had an old Winchester rifle and plenty of ammunition ready for the journey....The Boxer uprising ultimately claimed the lives of more than 32,000 Chinese Christians and several hundred foreign missionaries (historian Nat Brandt called it “the greatest single tragedy in the history of Christian evangelicalism

Boxer siege of Beijing

Locations of foreign diplomatic legations and front lines in Beijing during the siege.

The compound in Beijing remained under siege from Boxer forces from 20 June - 14 August. A total of 473 foreign civilians, 409 soldiers from eight countries, and about 3,000 Chinese Christians took refuge in the Legation Quarter. (See Siege of the Legations, Beijing 1900) Under the command of the British minister to China, Claude Maxwell MacDonald, the legation staff and security personnel defended the compound with small arms, three machine guns, and one old muzzle-loaded cannon; it was nicknamed the International Gun because the barrel was British, the carriage was Italian, the shells were Russian and the crew was American.

During the defence of the legations, a small Japanese force of one officer and 24 sailors commanded by Colonel Shiba, distinguished itself in several ways. Of particular note was that it had the almost unique distinction of suffering greater than 100 percent casualties. This was possible because a great many of the Japanese troops were wounded, entered into the casualty lists, then returned to the line of battle only to be wounded once more and again entered in the casualty lists.

Also under siege in Peking was the North Cathedral, the Beitang, of the Catholic Church. The Beitang was defended by 43 French and Italian soldiers, 33 Catholic Priests and nuns, and about 3,200 Chinese Catholics. The defenders suffered heavy casualties especially from lack of food and Chinese mines exploded in tunnels dug beneath the compound.

Foreign media described the fighting going on in Beijing, as well as the alleged torture and murder of captured foreigners. While it is true that thousands of Chinese Christians were massacred in north China, many horrible stories that appeared in world newspapers were based on the actual murder of men, women and children within the foreign legation. Nonetheless a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment arose in Europe, the United States and Japan. The poorly armed Boxer rebels were unable to break into the compound, which was relieved by an international army of the Eight-Nation Alliance in August.

On July 1, the Chinese artillery bombardment had finally exhausted the Allies patience, and they determined to put it to a halt. The Italians and British sought to sortie and destroyed the Chinese artillery. When the Italian attack commenced, they ran toward the Chinese lines, but as soon as the Chinese fire hit them, they fled in terror and retreated, several Italians were killed and wounded, fleeing like mad to escape. Some of their clothes were dripping in blood. The Italian Lieutenant was severely wounded and the dead bodies of Italians went missing.

The Chinese captured the east French Legation, and unleashed a bombardment upon the French; the French position quickly turned into a death trap, with men wounded and one Frenchman had his face blown off.

Chinese snipers surrounded the French legation and Su Wang Fu, maintaining a constant watch. The foreigners were steadily and rapidly losing men killed by Chinese snipers. Chinese artillery targeted the Allied Defences, as the casualty rate rose to over 200 men. The Chinese Imperial Army and Boxer snipers, aided with Chinese artillery, persisted in the siege, destroying buildings in the French settlements while foreign casualties continued to rise. In the settlements, sniper casualties included various nationalities; French, British, and American.

Accurate Chinese snipers and artillery constantly pounded the legations, forcing defenders to abandon multiple positions. The Chinese forces occupied Su Wang Fu and the French Legation, being nearly successful in defeating American and Russians in the city wall. However, the Dowager Empress Cixi declared a truce on June 25th, because she had an altercation with the anti foreign Prince Duan, who wanted all the foreigners exterminated. But when news came of the Chinese victory over Seymour's forces in the First intervention, Seymour Expedition, China 1900, fighting resumed. It was Chinese collaboraters in the legations who led the foreigners to a cannon after digging, which they managed to deploy to defend themselves. In July 13th, the French legation was demolish by Chinese mining explisives. However, the pro foreign factions and anti foreign factions were squabbling against each other at the Chinese court. The pro foreigner Qing Princes even offered the foriengers safety in the Zongli Yamen. They even decaled a cease fire from July 14- August 4, Dowager Empress Cixi even sent food and supplies to the foreigners.

Prince Qing declined to join the boxers and the rest of the imperial army to attack the legations, and even ordered his own Manchu Bannermen to attack the Boxers and the Muslim Kansu braves, who were besieging the foreigners. It was reported that Prince Qing's pro foreign bannermen fought against Prince Duan's anti foreign troops.

During the siege, Westerners maintained control over diminishing food resources, prioritising their own needs and denying aid to the Chinese Christians who had sought shelter with them. As Max Boot describes it, "the starving Chinese converts were reduced to eating tree bark and leaves, while the Europeans still enjoyed free-flowing champagne.

An incident occurred when Russian soldiers wanting to rape Chinese Christian schoolgirls were discovered by the British. It is unknown whether it was disocvered before any rapes occurred, as sensitivity prevented an investigation.

Torching of Chinese dwellings

On 23 June 1900 the Boxer rebels started setting fire to an area south of the British Legation, using it as a "frightening tactic" to attack the defenders. And Hanlin Yuan, a complex of courtyards and buildings that housed "the quintessence of Chinese scholarship ... the oldest and richest library in the world", (Yongle Dadian) was just nearby. Sir Claude MacDonald, the commander-in-chief, had become worried that the Boxer rebels might try to burn the Hanlin Yuan, the "buildings at some point being only an arm's length from the British building walls."

On 24 June 1900, when the winds shifted, the unanticipated happened: Hanlin Yuan's group of buildings had caught fire, and the fire was beginning to spread further. Eyewitness' accounts:

The old buildings burned like tinder with a roar which drowned the steady rattle of musketry as Tung Fu-shiang's Moslems fired wildly through the smoke from upper windows...Some of the incendiaries were shot down, but the buildings were an inferno and the old trees standing round them blazed like torches...An attempt was made to save the famous Yang Lo Ta Tien [now spelled Yongle Dadian], but heaps of volumes had been destroyed, so the attempt was given up.

— eyewitness, Lancelot Giles, son of Herbert A. Giles.

The Manchu authority blamed the British for setting the fire as a defensive measure, whereas the British pointed to the direction of the wind, and claimed that it was either the Boxer rebels or the ordinary Manchu soldiers who "set fire to the Hanlin, working systematically from one courtyard to the next." Rescued from among the burning buildings were portions of the Yongle Encyclopedia, and other works.

Arrival of reinforcements

Forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance Relief of the Legations Troops of the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900 (Russia excepted); left to right: Britain, United States, Australia, India, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Japan
Countries	Warships (units)	Marines (men)	Army (men)
Empire of Japan	18	540	20,300
Russian Empire	10	750	12,400
British Empire	8	2,020	10,000
France	5	390	3,130
United States	2	295	3,125
German Empire	5	600	300
Kingdom of Italy	2	80	2,500
Austria-Hungary	4	296	unknown
Total	54	4,971	51,755

The Eight-Nation Alliance with their naval flags. Japanese print, 1900

Foreign navies started building up their presence along the northern China coast from the end of April 1900. On 31 May, before the sieges had started and upon the request of foreign embassies in Beijing, an international force of 435 navy troops from eight countries were dispatched by train from Takou to the capital (75 French, 75 Russian, 75 British, 60 U.S., 50 German, 40 Italian, 30 Japanese, 30 Austrian); these troops joined the legations and were able to contribute to their defense. The rebellion was ultimately quashed by the Eight-Nation Alliance of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

First intervention

Main article: First intervention, Seymour Expedition, China 1900

Japanese marines who served under the British commander Seymour.

As the situation worsened a second international force of 2,000 Marines under the command of the British Vice-Admiral Edward Seymour, the largest contingent being British, was dispatched from Takou to Beijing on 10 June. The troops were transported by train from Takou to Tianjin with the agreement of the Chinese government, but the railway between Tianjin and Beijing had been severed. Seymour resolved to move forward and repair the rail or such as the train, or progress on foot as necessary, keeping in mind that the distance between Tianjin and Beijing was only 120 km. However, Seymour left Tiensten, and started toward Peking, which angered the Chinese Imperial court. As a result, the Pro Boxer Manchu Prince Tuan became leader of the Tsungli Yamen (foreign office), replacing Prince Ching, orders were given to Imperial army to attack the foreign forces. Chinese General Nie let Seymour's army slip pass in trains, because Ronglu deliberately issued contradicting orders, which left Nie confused.

After Tianjin the convoy was surrounded, the railway behind and in front of them was destroyed, and they were attacked from all parts by Chinese irregulars and even Chinese governmental troops. News arrived on 18 June regarding attacks on foreign legations. Seymour decided to continue advancing, this time along the Pei-Ho river, toward Tong-Tcheou, 25 km from Beijing. By the 19th, they had to abandon their efforts due to progressively stiffening resistance and started to retreat southward along the river with over 200 wounded. Commandeering four civilian Chinese junks along the river, they loaded all their wounded and remaining supplies onto them and pulled them along with ropes from the riverbanks. By this point they were very low on food, ammunition and medical supplies. Luckily, they then happened upon The Great Hsi-Ku Arsenal, a hidden Qing munitions cache that the Western Powers had no knowledge of until then. They immediately captured and occupied it, discovering not only German Krupp-made field guns, but rifles with millions of rounds in ammunition, along with millions of pounds of rice and ample medical supplies.

Admiral Seymour returning to Tianjin with his wounded men, on 26 June.

There they dug in and awaited rescue. A Chinese servant was able to infiltrate through the Boxer and Qing lines, informing the Eight Powers of their predicament. Surrounded and attacked nearly around the clock by Qing troops and Boxers, they were at the point of being overrun. On 25 June a regiment composed of 1800 men, (900 Russian troops from Port-Arthur, 500 British seamen, with an ad hoc mix of other assorted western troops) finally arrived. Spiking the mounted field guns and setting fire to any munitions that they could not take (an estimated £3 million worth), they departed the Hsi-Ku Arsenal in the early morning of 26 June, with the loss of 62 killed and 228 wounded.

Second intervention

The Boxers bombarded Tianjin in June 1900, and Dong Fuxiang's Muslim troops attacked the British Admiral Seymour and his expeditionary force.

With a difficult military situation in Tianjin and a total breakdown of communications between Tianjin and Beijing, the allied nations took steps to reinforce their military presence significantly. On 17 June they took the Taku Forts commanding the approaches to Tianjin, and from there brought increasing numbers of troops on shore.

The international force with British Lieutenant-General Alfred Gaselee acting as the commanding officer of the Eight-Nation Alliance, eventually numbered 55,000, with the main contingent being composed of Japanese soldiers: Japanese (20,840), Russian (13,150), British (12,020), French (3,520), U.S.(3,420), German (900), Italian (80), Austro-Hungarian (75) and anti-Boxer Chinese troops. The international force finally captured Tianjin on 14 July under the command of the Japanese Colonel Kuriya, after one day of fighting.

The capture of the southern gate of Tianjin. British troops were positioned on the left, Japanese troops at the centre, French troops on the right.

Notable exploits during the campaign were the seizure of the Taku Forts commanding the approaches to Tianjin, and the boarding and capture of four Chinese destroyers by Roger Keyes. Among the foreigners besieged in Tianjin was a young American mining engineer named Herbert Hoover.

The march from Tianjin to Beijing of about 120 km consisted of about 20,000 allied troops. On 4 August there were approximately 70,000 Imperial troops with anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 Boxers along the way. They only encountered minor resistance and the battle was engaged in Yangcun, about 30 km outside Tianjin, where the 14th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. and British troops led the assault. The weather was a major obstacle, extremely humid with temperatures sometimes reaching 110 °F (43 °C).

Corporal Titus scaling the walls of Peking.

The international force reached and occupied Beijing on 14 August. All the nationalities in the international force raced to be the first to liberate the besieged Legation Quarter with the British winning the race. The U.S. was able to play a minor role, in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion due to the presence of U.S. ships and troops deployed in the Philippines since the U.S. conquest of the Spanish American and Philippine-American War. In the U.S. military the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion was known as the China Relief Expedition. American soldiers scaling the walls of Beijing is one of the most iconic images of the Boxer Rebellion.

Looting

"The Fall of the Peking Castle" from September 1900. British and Japanese soldiers assaulting Chinese troops.

The intermediate aftermath of the siege in Beijing was "an orgy of looting" by soldiers, civilians, and missionaries. Each nationality in the expeditionary force accused the other of being the worst looters. An American diplomat, Herbert Squires, filled several railroad cars with loot. The British Legation held loot auctions every afternoon and proclaimed, "looting on the part of British troops was carried out in the most orderly manner." The Catholic North Cathedral was a "salesroom for stolen property." The American commander General Adna Chaffee banned looting by American soldiers, but the ban was ineffectual.

The missionaries were the most condemned. Mark Twain reflected American outrage against looting and imperialism in his essay, "To the Person Sitting in Darkness". American Board Missionary William Scott Ament was his target. To provide restitution to missionaries and Chinese Christian families whose property had been destroyed, Ament guided American troops through villages to punish Boxers and confiscate their property. When Mark Twain read of this expedition, he wrote a scathing attack on the "Reverend bandits of the American Board." Ament was one of the most respected and courageous missionaries in China and the controversy between him and Mark Twain was front page news during much of 1901. Ament's counterpart on the distaff side was doughty British missionary Georgina Smith who presided over a neighborhood in Beijing as judge and jury.

Atrocities

Boxer

Boxers regularly killed and mutilated foreigners, including women and children. In one incident, the Boxers killed and mutilated a Turk, Italian, a Swiss man and his sister.

The Imperial Army Muslim Kansu braves additionally slaughtered Christians near the legations while looting indiscriminately.

Western

Foreign armies in Beijing

Western forces went on a killing, looting, and raping rampage against Chinese civilians. All of the foreign troops, except the Japanese, raped women. It was reported that Japanese troops were astonished by the western troops engaging in raping. Thousands of women were raped by the western forces on a massive scale. The Japanese officers had brought along Japanese prostitutes to stop their troops from raping Chinese civilians. A western Journalist, George Lynch, said "there are things that I must not write, and that may not be printed in England, which would seem to show that this Western civilization of ours is merely a veneer over savagery." All of the nationalities engaged in looting. The Russians and French behavior was particularly appalling. Chinese women and girls committed suicide to avoid being raped. The French commander dismissed the rapes, attributing them to "gallantry of the French soldier". American troops also engaged in looting of shops.

The Russian writer Leo Tolstoy praised the Boxers, and harshly criticized the atrocities done by the Russians and other western troops, and accused them of engaging in slaughter when he heard about the lootings, rapes, and murders, and Tolstoy raged against Christian brutality. He also named the two monarchs most responsible for the atrocities, Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany. Tolstoy also read Confucian works.

The New Age magazine accused the westerners of using the war to sustain their opium trade.

Occupation

Russian troops in Beijing.

American troops during the Boxer Rebellion.

Beijing, Tianjin, and other cities in northern China were occupied for more than one year by the international expeditionary force under the command of German General Alfred Graf von Waldersee. The German force arrived too late to take part in the fighting, but undertook several punitive expeditions to the countryside against the Boxers. Although atrocities by foreign troops were common, German troops in particular were criticized for their enthusiasm in carrying out Kaiser Wilhelm II’s words. On 27 July 1900 when Wilhelm II spoke during departure ceremonies for the German contingent to the relief force in China, an impromptu, but intemperate reference to the Hun invaders of continental Europe would later be resurrected by British propaganda to mock Germany during World War I and World War II.

Just as the Huns a thousand years ago, under the leadership of Attila, gained a reputation by virtue of which they still live in historical tradition, so may the name Germany become known in such a manner in China, that no Chinese will ever again dare to look askance at a German.

— Michael Hunt, The Making of a Special Relationship: The United States and China to 1914

The Germans were not the only offenders. On behalf of Chinese Catholics, French troops ravaged the countryside around Beijing to collect indemnities—and on one occasion arresting Ament who, a one-man army, beat them to the punch in gathering wealth from some villages. Nor were the soldiers of other nationalities any better behaved. "The Russian soldiers are ravishing the women and committing horrible atrocities" in the sector of Beijing they occupied. The Japanese were noted for their skill in beheading Boxers or people suspected of being Boxers. General Chaffee commented, "It is safe to say that where one real Boxer has been killed ...fifty harmless coolies or laborers on the farms, including not a few women and children, have been slain."

War reparations

Executed Boxer leaders at Hsi-Kou 1900-1901, guarded by a German soldier.

On 7 September 1901, the Qing court was compelled to sign the "Boxer Protocol" also known as Peace Agreement between the Eight-Nation Alliance and China. The protocol ordered the execution of 10 high-ranking officials linked to the outbreak and other officials who were found guilty for the slaughter of Westerners in China. The British signatory of the Protocol was Sir Ernest Satow.

A Muslim, Ma Jun(馬駿) brought a petition to the government which demanded that Xu Shichang must not sign the Boxer Protocol.

Share of reparations

Country	Share %
Russia	30.00
Germany	20.00
France	15.75
Britain	11.25
Japan	7.70
US	7.00

China was fined war reparations of 450,000,000 tael of fine silver (1 tael = 1.2 troy ounces) for the loss that it caused. The reparation would be paid within 39 years, and would be 982,238,150 taels with interests (4 percent per year) included. To help meet the payment it was agreed to increase the existing tariff from an actual 3.18 percent to 5 percent, and to tax hitherto duty-free merchandise. The sum of reparation was estimated by the Chinese population (roughly 450 million in 1900), to let each Chinese pay one tael. Chinese custom income and salt tax were enlisted as guarantee of the reparation.

China paid 668,661,220 taels of silver from 1901 to 1939, equivalent in 2010 to ~US$61 billion on a purchasing power parity basis (see Tael).

Execution of Boxers after the rebellion.

A large portion of the reparations paid to the United States was diverted to pay for the education of Chinese students in U.S. universities under the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program. To prepare the students chosen for this program an institute was established to teach the English language and to serve as a preparatory school for the course of study chosen. When the first of these students returned to China they undertook the teaching of subsequent students; from this institute was born Tsinghua University. Some of the reparation due to Britain was later earmarked for a similar program.

The China, or Inland Mission, lost more members than any other missionary agency: 58 adults and 21 children were killed. However, in 1901, when the allied nations were demanding compensation from the Chinese government, Hudson Taylor refused to accept payment for loss of property or life in order to demonstrate the meekness of Christ to the Chinese.

The Catholic Church engaged in lying to get foreign troops garrisoned in inner Mongolia. The French Catholic vicar apostolic, Msgr. Alfons Bermyn wanted foreign troops garrisoned in inner Mongolia, but the Governor refused. Bermyn resorted to lies, and falsely petitioned the Manchu Enming to send troops to Hetao where Prince Duan's Mongol troops and General Dong Fuxiang's Muslim troops allegedly threatened Catholics. It turned at that Bermyn had created the incident as a hoax. One of the false reports claimed that Dong Fuxiang wiped out Belgian missionaries in Mongolia and was going to massacre Catholics in Taiyuan.

The Qing did not capitulate to all the foreign demands. The Manchu Governor Yuxian was executed, but the Imperial court refused to execute the Chinese General Dong Fuxiang, both were anti foreign and had encouraged the killing of foreigners during the rebellion. Instead, General Dong Fuxiang lived a life of luxury and power in "exile" in his home province of Gansu.

In addition to not only sparing Dong Fuxiang, the Qing also refused to exile the Boxer supporter Prince Tuan to Xinjiang, as the foreigners demanded. Instead, he moved to Alashan, west of Ningxia, and lived in Wangyeh Fu, where the local Mongol Prince lived. He then moved to Ningxia during the Xinhai Revolution when the Muslims took control of Ningxia, and finally, moved to Xinjiang with Sheng Yun.

Long-term results

The great powers stopped short of finally colonizing China. From the Boxer rebellions, they learned that the best way to govern China was through the Chinese dynasty, instead of direct dealing with the Chinese people (as a saying “The people are afraid of officials, the officials are afraid of foreigners, and the foreigners are afraid of the people" (老百姓怕官，官怕洋鬼子，洋鬼子怕老百姓). Dowager Cixi used Boxers to fight foreigners largely because foreigners sympathized with the Guangxu Emperor, who had been on house arrest after an aborted reformation. Eventually, as an unwritten agreement, Dowager Cixi was allowed to stay in power, since comparatively, Cixi could use her influence to suppress the Chinese anti-western sentiment better than the weak and ineffectual Guangxu Emperor. The Guangxu Emperor spent the rest of his life in house arrest.

In October 1900 Russia was busy occupying much of the northeastern province of Manchuria, a move which threatened Anglo-American hopes of maintaining what remained of China's territorial integrity and an openness to commerce under the Open Door Policy. This behavior led ultimately to the Russo-Japanese War, where Russia was defeated at the hands of an increasingly confident Japan.

Among the Imperial powers, Japan gained prestige due to its military aid in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion and was now seen as a power. Its clash with Russia over Liaodong and other provinces in eastern Manchuria, long considered by the Japanese as part of their sphere of influence, led to the Russo-Japanese War when two years of negotiations broke down in February 1904. The Russian Lease of the Liaodong (1898) was confirmed.

Besides the compensation, Empress Dowager Cixi reluctantly started some reformations despite her previous view. The imperial examination system for government service was eliminated; as a result, the classical system of education was replaced with a European liberal system that led to a university degree. After the death of Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor (on the same day, mysteriously) in 1908, the regent (Guangxu Emperor's brother) launched reformation. However, these efforts seemed to be too late. The revolutionaries within Han Chinese could not wait. The imperial government's humiliating failure to defend China against the foreign powers contributed to the growth of nationalist resentment against the "foreigner" Qing dynasty (who were descendants of the Manchu conquerors of China). By circumstance, the Qing Dynasty, weakened by the war and the 1911 revolution, led by Sun Yat-sen, became the last dynasty in Chinese history.

The effect on China was a weakening of the dynasty as well as a weakened national defense. The structure was temporarily sustained by the Europeans. Behind the international conflict, it further internally deepened the ideological differences between northern-Chinese anti-foreign royalists and southern-Chinese anti-Qing revolutionists. This scenario in the last Chinese dynasty gradually escalated to a chaotic warlord era in which the most powerful northern warlords were hostile towards the first Chinese republic in the south until the 1930s when the Chinese communists and Japanese imperialists became the greatest threats to the republic and the northern warlords respectively. Before the ultimate defeat of the Boxer Rebellion, all anti-Qing movements in the previous century such as the Taiping Rebellion were successfully suppressed by the Qing and her foreign collaborators.

Conflicting depictions of Boxers

A company of Boxers in Tianjin.

Views differ as to whether the Boxers are better seen as anti-imperialist or as futile opponents of inevitable change. In the People's Republic of China, orthodox textbooks used to analyze the Boxer movement as an anti-imperialist, patriotic peasant movement whose failure was due to the lack of leadership from the modern working class. In recent decades, however, large-scale projects of village interviews and explorations of archival sources have led historians to take a more nuanced view. Some Western scholars, such as Joseph Esherick, have seen the movement as anti-imperialist; while others view this interpretation as anachronistic in that the Chinese nation had not been formed and the Boxers were more concerned with regional issues. Esherick comments that "confusion about the Boxer Uprising is not simply a matter of popular misconceptions," for "there is no major incident in China's modern history on which the range of professional interpretation is so great.". Paul Cohen's recent history includes a survey of "the Boxers as myth," showing how their memory was used in changing ways in 20th-century China from the New Culture Movement to the Cultural Revolution.

In this cartoon, Westerners shown as pig and goat and being slaughtered by Manchu officials.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China and of the Kuomintang party praised the Boxers for fighting against Western Imperialism. He said the Boxers were courageous and fearless, fighting to the death against the Western armies, Dr. Sun specifically cited the Battle of Yangcun.

In 2006 Yuan Weishi, a professor of philosophy at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, China, published an essay titled Modernisation and History Textbooks, criticizing the official theme of government-issued middle schools history textbooks, claiming that they contain numbers of non-neutral historical interpretations. Yuan wrote that these "criminal actions brought unspeakable suffering to the nation and its people! These are all facts that everybody knows, and it is a national shame that the Chinese people cannot forget." For many years, history text books had been lacking in neutrality in presenting the Boxer Rebellion as a "magnificent feat of patriotism", and not presenting the view that the majority of the Boxer rebels were both violent and xenophobic. On the other hand, such views are criticized and considered to be unfair, not neutral and logically absurd by some people and Yuan Weishi is even labeled Hanjian (漢奸, betrayer of the Han) by some people.

The philosopher Tang Junyi viewed the Boxer Uprising as a religious war between the Chinese and Christianity. In fact, facing what they viewed as an aggressive religious invasion by Christianity, Chinese Righteous Harmony Society had the slogan "Defend Chinese Religion (保華教, or 保漢教) and Get Rid of Foreign Religion (of Christianity) (滅洋教)." Some scholars consider it to be a war against the invasion of China by the foreign religion of Christianity.

In fiction

• The 1963 film 55 Days at Peking was a dramatization of the Boxer rebellion. Shot in Spain, it needed thousands of Chinese extras, and the company sent scouts throughout Spain to hire as many as they could find.
• In 1975 Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers studio produced the film Boxer Rebellion (八國聯軍, Pa kuo lien chun) under director Chang Cheh with one of the highest budgets to tell a sweeping story of disillusionment and revenge. It depicted followers of the Boxer clan being duped into believing they were impervious to attacks by firearms. The film starred Alexander Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan Chun, Wang Lung-Wei and Richard Harrison.
• The novel Moment In Peking, by Lin Yutang, opens during the Boxer Rebellion, and provides a child's-eye view of the turmoil through the eyes of the protagonist.
• The novel The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure, by Adam Williams, describes the experiences of a small group of western missionaries, traders and railway engineers in a fictional town in northern China shortly before and during the Boxer Rebellion.
• Parts I and II of C. Y. Lee's China Saga (1987) involve events leading up to and during the Boxer Rebellion, revolving around a character named Fong Tai.
• The horror play La Dernière torture (The Ultimate Torture), written by André de Lorde and Eugène Morel in 1904 for the Grand Guignol theater (just four years following the events depicted), is set during the Boxer Rebellion, in the French area of the fortified legation compound, specifically on 22 July 1900, the 32nd day of the Boxers' siege of the compound.
• The Last Empress, by Anchee Min, describes the long reign of the Empress Dowager Cixi in which the siege of the legations is one of the climactic events in the novel.
• The Douglas Reeman novel The First to Land, part of the Blackwood saga, depicts an officer of Royal Marines during the siege of Peking.
• The novel Fenwick Travers and the Years of Empire, by Raymond M. Saunders, depicts American antihero Fenwick Travers taking an active role in the Boxer rebellion.
• China Under the Empress Dowager by Bland and Backhouse, 1911, including The Diary of His Excellency Ching Shan: Being a Chinese Account of the Boxer Rebellion.
• In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Fool for Love" (2001) Spike recounts his killing of a Slayer at the Boxer Rebellion, and the following Angel episode "Darla" shows the same events from Angel's point of view.
• The 2003 movie, Shanghai Knights, staring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, shows that the Boxers still exist, working for Lord Rathbone, who wants to assassinate many members of the British Royal Family.
• The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, by Neal Stephenson, includes a quasi-historical re-telling of the Boxer Rebellion as an integral component of the novel.
• The 2007 Peter Watt Novel The Stone Dragon, tells the story of a Chinese-Australian importation magnate who travels to Peking to attempt to rescue his daughter, who has been taken captive by the Boxer rebels.
• The Rebellion is mentioned in the Herge Tintin story "The Blue Lotus" by Tintin's Chinese friend Chang Chong-Chen when they first meet after Tintin saves the boy from drowning. It is a pivotal and poignant moment relating to the views Chinese and European people had of each other at the time. The boy asks Tintin why he saved him from drowning as, according to Chang's uncle who fought in the Rebellion, all white people were wicked. Chang mispronounces it however, calling it 'the battle of Righteous and Harmonious Fists.'
• Besieged!, a play written by Iowa's Kirkwood Community College staff member, Pamela Edwards, was performed by the theatre department in 2010. It covers President and Mrs. Herbert Hoover's early years of marriage spent in China during the Boxer Rebellion.
• In the Dad's Army episode Museum Piece Jones and Walker find a rocket-artillery launcher used against the Boxers (to which Jones replies "the poor creatures!"). Back at the Church Hall Jones and Walker show the weapon to the rest of the Platoon but Mainwaring says they'll take it back to the museum as it's too antiquated, claiming something like "warfare has progressed a bit since the rocket".
• A falsified diary, Diary of his Excellency Ching-Shan: Being a Chinese Account of the Boxer Troubles, including text written by Edmund Backhouse, who said he recovered the document from a burnt building. It is suspected that Backhouse falsified the document, as well as other stories, because he was prone to tell tales dubious in nature, including claims of nightly visits to the Empress Cixi.

In art

The rebellion was covered in the western illustrated press by artists and photographers. Paintings and prints were also published including Japanese wood-blocks.

See also

• Battle of Peking
• China Relief Expedition Campaigns
• Opium wars
• Righteous Harmony Society
• US Army 6th Cavalry Regiment (United States)
• US Army 14th Infantry Regiment (United States) "Golden Dragons"
• US Army 15th Infantry Regiment (United States)
• US Army China Campaign Medal
• US Navy China Relief Expedition Medal
• Xishiku Cathedral (Chinese:西什库天主堂)

Bibliography

• Brandt, Nat (1994). Massacre in Shansi. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-0282-0, ISBN 1-58348-347-0 (Pbk).
• Broomhall, Marshall (1901). Martyred Missionaries of The China Inland Mission; With a Record of The Perils and Sufferings of Some Who Escaped. London: Morgan and Scott.
• Chen, Shiwei. "Change and Mobility: the Political Mobilization of the Shanghai Elites in 1900." Papers on Chinese History 1994 3(spr): 95-115.
• Cohen, Paul A. (1997). History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth Columbia University Press. online edition
• Cohen, Paul A. "The Contested Past: the Boxers as History and Myth." Journal of Asian Studies 1992 51(1): 82-113. Issn: 0021-9118
• Elliott, Jane. "Who Seeks the Truth Should Be of No Country: British and American Journalists Report the Boxer Rebellion, June 1900." American Journalism 1996 13(3): 255-285. Issn: 0882-1127
• Esherick, Joseph W. (1987). The Origins of the Boxer Uprising University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06459-3
• Fleming, Peter. The Siege at Peking. New York: Dorset Press. 1990 (originally published 1959). ISBN 0-88029-462-0
• Harrington, Peter. Peking 1900: The Boxer Rebellion. Oxford: Osprey, 2001. ISBN 1-84176-181-8
• Harrison, Henrietta. "Justice on Behalf of Heaven." History Today (2000) 50(9): 44-51. Issn: 0018-2753.
• Jellicoe, George (1993). The Boxer Rebellion, The Fifth Wellington Lecture, University of Southampton, University of Southampton. ISBN 0-85432-516-6.
• Hsu, Immanuel C.Y. (1999). The rise of modern China, 6 ed. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-512504-5.
• Hunt, Michael H. "The Forgotten Occupation: Peking, 1900–1901." Pacific Historical Review 48 (4) (November 1979): 501–529.
• Preston, Diana (2000). The Boxer Rebellion. Berkley Books, New York. ISBN 0-425-18084-0. online edition
• Preston, Diana. "The Boxer Rising." Asian Affairs (2000) 31(1): 26-36. ISSN 0306-8374.
• Purcell, Victor (1963). The Boxer Uprising: A background study. online edition
• Sharf, Frederic A., and Peter Harrington (2000). China 1900: The Eyewitnesses Speak. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-410-9.
• Sharf, Frederic A., and Peter Harrington (2000). China 1900: The Artists' Perspective. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-409-5
• Seagrave, Sterling (1992). Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China Vintage Books, New York. ISBN 0-679-73369-8. Challenges the notion that the Empress-Dowager used the Boxers. She is portrayed sympathetically.
• Spence, Johnathon D.. "The Search for Modern China" 2nd ed.. New York: Norton, 1999.
• Tiedemann, R. G. "Boxers, Christians and the Culture of Violence in North China." Journal of Peasant Studies 1998 25(4): 150-160. ISSN 0306-6150.
• Thompson, Larry Clinton. William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris, and the "Ideal Missionary". Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009
• Wang Ke-wen, ed. Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism. London: Taylor & Francis, 1998
• Warner, Marina (1993). The Dragon Empress The Life and Times of Tz'u-his, 1835–1908, Empress Dowager of China. Vintage. ISBN 0-09-916591-0
• Eva Jane Price. China journal, 1889-1900: an American missionary family during the Boxer Rebellion, (1989). ISBN 0-684-19851-8; see Susanna Ashton, "Compound Walls: Eva Jane Price's Letters from a Chinese Mission, 1890-1900." Frontiers 1996 17(3): 80-94. ISSN: 0160-9009.

External links

• September 1900 San Francisco Newspaper
• 55 Days at Peking at IMDb
• Pa kuo lien chun at IMDb
• University of Washington Library's Digital Collections – Robert Henry Chandless Photographs
• Proceedings of the Tenth Universal Peace Congress, 1901
• Pictures from the Siege of Peking, from the Caldwell Kvaran archives
• Eyewitness account: When the Allies Entered Peking, 1900，an excerpt of Pierre Loti's Les Derniers Jours de Pékin (1902).

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Online video

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