Boxer Rebellion

This article is about The Boxer Rebellion Uprising. For the Boxer society, Righteous Harmony Society.

The Boxer Rebellion
Boxer forces in Tianjin.
Date November 2, 1899 - September 7, 1901 Location China Result Alliance victory
Belligerents
Eight-Nation Alliance (ordered by contribution): File:Flag of Japan - variant.svg Japan Russia United Kingdom France United States Germany Italy File:Austria-Hungary-flag-1869-1918-naval-1786-1869-war.svg Austria-Hungary	Righteous Harmony Society Chinese Empire
Commanders and leaders
Edward Seymour Alfred Graf von Waldersee	Ci Xi
Strength
20,000 initially 49,000 total	Over 100,000
Casualties and losses
230 foreigners, thousands of civilians	Unknown

The Boxer Uprising (simplified Chinese: 义和团起义; traditional Chinese: 義和團起義; pinyin: Yìhétuán Qǐyì; lit. 'The Righteous and Harmonious Society Uprising') or Boxer Rebellion (義和團之亂 or 義和團匪亂) was a Chinese rebellion from November 1899 to September 7, 1901, against foreign influence in areas such as trade, politics, religion and technology that occurred in China during the final years of the Manchu rule known as the Qing Dynasty. According to traditional Western histories, the Boxers were condemned as a product of uncivilized, irrational, superstitious antiforeignism among the common people. However, controversy still exists about the significance of the movement, and even today the Boxers are praised by the government of the People's Republic of China as patriotic anti-imperialists. Subsequent reforms implemented after the crises of 1900 laid the foundation for the end of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the modern Chinese Republic.

The Boxers began as an antiforeign anti-imperialist peasant-based movement in northern China. The Boxers attacked foreigners who were building railroads and violating Feng shui, as well as Christian missionaries and native Christians who were held responsible for the foreign domination of China. In June 1900 the Boxers invaded Beijing, the Chinese capital, and killed 230 foreigners. Tens of thousands of Chinese Christians - Catholic and Protestant alike were killed in the uprising, mostly in Shandong and Shanxi Provinces, as well as in the capital city. The Cixi government was helpless. Diplomats, foreign civilians, soldiers and some Chinese Christians retreated to the legation quarter and held out for 55 days as a multinational coalition rushed 20,000 troops to the rescue. The Chinese government was forced to indemnify the victims and make many additional concessions.

The Boxers

The rebellion was initiated by a society known as the Righteous Harmony Society or, in contemporary English parlance, "Boxers", a group that initially opposed, but later reconciled itself to, China's ruling Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The most characteristic features of the Boxer movement in its expansionist phase included its name and principal slogans, its practice of mass spirit possession, its invulnerability beliefs and rituals, its "boxing" and deep-breathing exercises (qigong), as well as its nonhierarchical organization centered on boxing grounds (quanchang or chang) in rural areas and altars (tan) in cities, It was composed mainly of young farmers (often mere boys), seasonal agricultural laborers, and unemployed drifters. The movement grew slowly before 1900 and rapidly in the first half of 1900.

The "Boxers United in Righteousness" united two streams of influence: the notion of invulnerability associated with the Big Sword Society (Dadaohui), and the mass spirit possession rituals practiced by groups calling themselves Spirit Boxers, which emerged in the mid 1890s in the northwestern part of Shandong province.

At the local level the national government was powerless. Tensions grew between European missionaries and the Boxers, erupting in 1896 in a series of Big Sword attacks on Christian compounds in the Jiangsu-Shandong border area. The attacks were triggered by a dispute over land use and were not related, in any significant way, to Christian teachings.

The Boxer rebellion was concentrated in northern China where the European powers had begun to demand territorial, rail and mining concessions. Imperial Germany responded to the killing of two missionaries in Shandong province in November 1897 by seizing the port of Qingdao. A month later, a Russian naval squadron took possession of Lushun, in southern Liaoning. Britain and France followed, taking possession of Weihai and Zhanjiang respectively. The Boxer rebellion is related to the Open Door Policy in many ways.

The Uprising

Boxer activity developed in Shandong province in March 1898, in response to German occupation in the Jiao Zhou (present day Qingdao) region, British seizing of the city Weihai, and the failure of the Imperial court's "self-strengthening" strategy of officially-directed development, whose shortcomings had been shown graphically by China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). One of the first signs of unrest appeared in a small village in Shandong province, where there had been a long dispute over the property rights of a temple between locals and the Roman Catholic authorities. The Catholics claimed that the temple was originally a church abandoned decades previously after the Kangxi Emperor banned Christianity in China. The local court ruled in a favor of the Church, angering the villagers who claimed they needed the temple for various rituals and had traditionally used it to practice martial arts. After the local authorities seized the temple and gave it to the Catholics, villagers attacked the church under the leadership of the Boxers.

The exemption from many Chinese laws of missionaries further alienated some Chinese. Broomhall (1901) pointed to the policy pursued by the Catholic Church. In 1899, by the help of the French Minister in Peking they obtained an edict from the Chinese Government granting official rank to each order in the Roman hierarchy. The Catholics, by means of this official status were enabled to more powerfully support their people and oppose Mandarins.

The early months of the movement's growth coincided with the Hundred Days' Reform (June 11–September 21, 1898), during which the Guangxu Emperor of China sought to improve the central administration, before the process was reversed by several court reactionaries. After a mauling at the hands of loyal Imperial troops in October 1898, the Boxers dropped their anti-government slogans, turning their attention to foreign missionaries (such as those of the China Inland Mission) and their converts, whom they saw as agents of foreign imperialist influence. Veteran missionary Griffith John noted afterward:

It is the height of folly to look at the present movement as anti-missionary. It is anti-missionary as it is anti-everything that is foreign. ..The movement is at first and last an anti-foreign movement, and has for its aim the casting out of every foreigner and all his belongings.

The Imperial Court, now under the firm control of several conservative reactionaries, forced the Empress to issue edicts in defense of the Boxers, drawing heated complaints from foreign diplomats in January, 1900.

A Boxer rebel. His banner says "欽令 義和團糧臺", "By Imperial Order - Boxer Supply Commissariat".

The conflict came to a head in June 1900, when the Boxers, now joined by elements of the Imperial army, attacked foreign compounds within the cities of Tianjin and Peking. The legations of the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, Russia and Japan were all located on the Legation Quarter close to the Forbidden City, built there so that Chinese officials could keep an eye on the ministers - the legations themselves were strong structures surrounded by walls. The legations were hurriedly linked into a fortified compound and became a refuge for foreign citizens in Peking. However the Spanish, Belgian, and German legations were not in the same compound. Although the Spanish and Belgian legations were only a few streets away and their staff were able to arrive safely at the compound, the German legation was on the other side of the city and was stormed before the staff could escape. When the Envoy for the German Empire, Klemens Freiherr von Ketteler, was murdered on June 20 by a Manchu banner man, the foreign powers demanded redress. Cixi declared war (June 21) against all the Western powers, but regional governors refused to go along. Shanghai's Chinese elites supported the provincial governors of southeastern China in resisting the imperial declaration of war.

The fortified legation compound remained under siege from Boxer forces from June 20 to August 14. Under the command of the British minister to China, Claude Maxwell MacDonald, the legation staff and security personnel defended the compound with 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) and small arms.

Stories appeared in the foreign media describing the fighting going on in Peking as well as alleged torture and murder of captured foreigners. Tens of thousands of Chinese Christians were massacred in north China. Many horrible stories that appeared in world newspapers were based on a deliberate fraud; nevertheless a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment was generated in Europe, America, and Japan.

The poorly armed Boxer rebels were unable to break into the compound, which was relieved by the international army of the Eight-Nation Alliance in July.

Eight-Nation Alliance

Military of the Powers during the Boxer Rebellion, with their naval flags, from left to right: Italy, United States, France, Austria-Hungary, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia. Japanese print, 1900.

Main article: Eight-Nation Alliance

Reinforcements

Foreign navies started to build up their presence along the northern China coast from the end of April 1900. On May 31, before the sieges had started and upon the request of foreign embassies in Beijing, 435 Navy troops from five countries were dispatched by train from Takou to the capital (75 French, 75 Russian, 75 British, 60 American, 40 Italian, 30 Japanese, 50 German, 30 Austrian). These troops joined the legations and were able to contribute to their defense.

First intervention (Seymour column)

Contingent of Japanese marines who served under the British commander Seymour.

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

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 June 10. The troops were transported by train from Takou to Tianjin (Tien-Tsin) with the agreement of the Chinese government, but the railway between Tianjin and Beijing had been severed. Seymour however resolved to move forward and repair the railway, or progress on foot as necessary, keeping in mind that the distance between Tianjin and Beijing was only 120 kilometers.

After Tianjin however, 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. As news of the attack of foreign legations in Pekin arrived on June 18, Seymour decided to continue the progression, this time along the Pei-Ho river, towards Tong-Tcheou, 25 kilometers from Beijing. They had to abandon on the 19th however in front of stiff resistance, and started to retreat southward along the river. The wounded were so numerous that they had to be carried in junks along the river, pulled along with ropes by healthy combattants on the banks. The column managed to take-over the Chinese camps of Hsi-Kou, in which they were surrounded until June 25 when finally a regiment composed essentially of Russian troops from Port-Arthur arrived. They completed their retreat back to Tianjin on June 26, with the loss of 350 men.

Second intervention

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

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 dramatically. On June 17, they took the Taku Forts commanding the approaches to Tianjin, and from there brought more and more troops on shore.

The international force, with British Lt-General Alfred Gaselee acting as the commanding officer, called the Eight-Nation Alliance, eventually numbered 54,000, with the main contingent being composed of Japanese soldiers: Japanese (20,840), Russian (13,150), British (12,020), French (3,520), American (3,420), German (900), Italian (80), Austro-Hungarian (75), and anti-Boxer Chinese troops.

The international force finally captured Tianjin on July 14 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.

In general, the march, about 120 km, from Tianjin to Beijing by about 20,000 allied troops, on August 4, was not particularly harsh despite approximately 70,000 Imperial troops and anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 Boxers along the way. They only encountered minor resistance and a 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. However, the weather was a major obstacle, extremely humid with temperatures sometimes reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius).

Battle scene between Chinese forces and the Eight-Nation Alliance (front: British and Japanese troops).

The International force reached and occupied Beijing on August 14.

The United States was able to play a secondary, but significant, role in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion because of the large number of American ships and troops deployed in the Philippines as a result of the U.S. conquest of the islands during the Spanish American War (1898) and the subsequent Philippine-American War. In the United States military, the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion was known as the China Relief Expedition.

The end of rebellion

Parade of the foreign armies in Beijing.

A large international expeditionary force under the command of German general Alfred Graf von Waldersee arrived too late to take part in the main fighting, but undertook several punitive expeditions against the boxers. Troops from most nations engaged in plunder, looting and occasionally rape. German troops in particular were criticized for their enthusiasm in carrying out Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany's July 27 order to "make the name German remembered in China for a thousand years so that no Chinaman will ever again dare to even squint at a German." This speech, in which Wilhelm invoked the memory of the 5th century Huns, gave rise to the British derogatory name "Hun" for their German enemy during World War I and World War II.

Reparations

Russian troops in Beijing during the Boxer rebellion.

On September 7, 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 ten high-ranking officials linked to the outbreak, and other officials who were found guilty for the slaughter of Westerners in China.

China was fined war reparations of 450,000,000 tael of fine silver (around 74,062,500 pounds, or 333 million US dollars), for the loss that it caused. The reparation would be paid within 39 years, and would be 982,238,150 taels with interests （4% per year) included. 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. Russia got 30% of the reparation, Germany got 20%; the US share was 7%.

China paid 668,661,220 taels of silver from 1901 to 1939. Some of the reparation was later earmarked by both Britain and the U.S. for the education of Chinese students at overseas institutions, subsequently forming the basis of Tsinghua University. The British signatory of the Protocol was Sir Ernest Satow.

The China 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.

Aftermath

American troops in China during the Boxer Rebellion.

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 descendant of the Manchu conquerors of China) and an increasing feeling for modernization, which was to culminate a decade later in the dynasty's overthrow and the establishment of the Republic of China.

The foreign privileges which had angered Chinese people were largely cancelled in the 1930s and 1940s.

Russia had meanwhile been busy (October 1900) occupying much of the north-eastern province of Manchuria, a move which threatened Anglo-American hopes of maintaining what remained of China's territorial integrity and an openness to commerce (the "Open Door Policy") to all comers, but paid the concept only lip service.

This behavior led ultimately to the Russo-Japanese War, where Russia was defeated at the hands of an increasingly confident Japan, as they maintained garrisons and improved fortifications between Port Arthur and Harbin along the southern spur line of the Manchurian Railway constructed on their leased lands.

Results

Martyred China Inland Mission missionaries Duncan, Caroline and Jennie Kay.

Signature page of the Boxer Protocol.

During the incident, 48 Catholic missionaries and 18,000 Chinese Catholics were murdered. 222 Chinese Eastern Orthodox Christians were also murdered, along with 182 Protestant missionaries and 500 Chinese Protestants.

The effect on China was a weakening of the dynasty, although it was temporarily sustained by the Europeans who were under the impression that the Boxer Rebellion was anti-Qing. China was also forced to pay almost $333 million in reparations. China's defenses were weakened, and the aunt (Dowager Cixi) of the reigning Guangxu Emperor, who was the actual person in command of the country at that time, realized that in order to survive, China would have to reform, despite her previous opposition. Among the Imperial powers, Japan gained prestige due to its military aid in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion and was first seen as a power. Its clash with Russia over the 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. Germany, as mentioned above, earned itself the nickname "Hun" and occupied Qingdao bay, consequently fortifying it to serve as Germany's primary naval base in East Asia. The Russian Lease of the Liaodong (1898) was confirmed. The American U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment earned the nickname "Manchus" for its actions during this campaign. Current members of the regiment (stationed in Camp Casey, South Korea) still do a commemorative 25-mile (40 km) foot march every quarter in remembrance of the brutal fighting. Soldiers who complete this march are authorized to wear a special belt buckle that features a Chinese imperial dragon on their uniforms. Likewise both the U.S. 14th Infantry Regiment-which calls itself "The Golden Dragons"-; the 15th Infantry Regiment (United States) and the U.S. 6th Cavalry Regiment also have a Golden Dragon on their coat of Arms respectfully. Other US Units were involved in the rebellion were Battery F of the "U.S. 5th Artillery"; and US Marine Corps detachments.

The impact on China was immense. Soon after the rebellion the Confucian examination system for government service was eliminated. As a result, the classical system of education was replaced with a Westernized system that led to a university degree. Eventually the spirit of revolution sparked a new nationalist revolution, led by a baptized Christian Sun Yat-sen, which overthrew the Manchu (Qing) Dynasty

Controversy in modern China

Cohen (1997) considers the ways in which the Boxer Rebellion has been mythologized within modern memories, pointing out not only the foundations for the myths but also those occasions when the myth had to be modified so as to fit in with changing intellectual, political, and cultural currents. He looks at mythologizing in the New Culture Movement from 1915 to 1925, which showed the Boxers as irrational and backward; in the anti-imperialist struggles of the 1920's, which depicted the Boxers as true patriots; and in the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, which insisted on a monolithic interpretation of the Boxers, not only stressing the Boxers' patriotic character but also drawing attention to the numbers of women associated with them.

Though the reaction of the Boxers against foreign imperialism in China is regarded by some as patriotic, the violence that they caused in committing acts of murder, robbery, vandalism and arson cannot be considered much different from the events of other rebellions in China, if not worse. Some people in China considered this movement as a rebellion (亂; disorder; Mandarin Pinyin: luàn), a negative term in Chinese language, when described by commentators during the years of the Qing dynasty and Republic of China. However, the Chinese Communists have shifted the perception of the rebellion by referring to it as an uprising (起義; being upright; qǐyì), a more positive term in the Chinese language. It is frequently referred to as a "patriotic movement" in the People's Republic of China by Communist politicians.

In January 2006, Freezing Point, a weekly supplement to the China Youth Daily newspaper, was closed partly due to its running of an essay by Yuan Weishi, a history professor at Zhongshan University, who criticised the way in which the Boxer Rebellion and 19th century history about foreign interaction with China is now portrayed in Chinese textbooks and taught at school. [1]

In fiction

File:55 Days.jpg

Lobby Card for 55 Days at Peking

The events were made into the 1963 film, 55 Days at Peking. The film, which was shot in Spain, needed thousands of extras, and the company sent scouts throughout Spain to hire as many as they could find.

In 1975, Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers studio made a movie, titled Pa kuo lien chun (八国联军）, of the events, giving director Chang Cheh one of the highest budgets up to that time to tell a sweeping story of disillusionment and revenge. [2] It depicts followers of the Boxer clan being duped into believing they were impervious to attacks by firearms. The fight sequences were choreographed by () and it starred Alexander Fu Sheng as well as Wang Lung-Wei.

The popular film series, Once Upon a Time in China, starring Jet Li as the legendary martial artist/Chinese doctor Wong Fei Hung, conveys the ambience and tumult of this time period, with many historic events woven into the plotlines.

In the movie, Shanghai Knights, which takes place before the actual Boxer rebellion, the Boxers, led by Wu Chow and backed by British Lord Nelson Rathbone, killed Chon Wang and Chon Lin's father, attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria, and unite the Emperor's enemies and storm the Forbidden City in order for their leaders to become King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of China, but they fail.

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.

Neal Stephenson, in his award-winning sci-fi novel The Diamond Age, refers to Boxers' Rebellion in many ways, including "Fists of Righteous Harmony" as the name of uprising Chinese xenophobic faction.

The novel for teenagers Tulku, by Peter Dickinson begins with a missionary from the United States being killed in the destruction of a village in China.

In the cult television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, vampires Spike, Darla,Drusilla,and Angelus wreak havoc during the Boxer Rebellion.

See also

• List of Protestant Missionaries killed during the Boxer Rebellion
• 19th Century Protestant Missions in China
• List of Protestant missionaries in China
• Auguste Chapdelaine
• Beijing Legation Quarter
• Great Wall of China hoax
• Nieh Shih-ch'eng
• Opium Wars
• Shiba Goro
• Taiping Rebellion

External links

• 55 Days at Peking at IMDb
• Pa kuo lien chun at IMDb
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Robert Henry Chandless Photographs

References

• Brandt, Nat. Massacre in Shansi. Syracuse U. Press, 1994.
• 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.
• Paul A. Cohen; History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth Columbia University Press, 1997 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 Fulltext: in Jstor
• 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
• Joseph W. Esherick, The Origins of the Boxer Uprising University of California Press, 1987 ISBN 0-520-06459-3
• Harrison, Henrietta. "Justice on Behalf of Heaven." History Today (2000) 50(9): 44-51. Issn: 0018-2753 Fulltext: in Ebsco; popular account
• George, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, The Boxer Rebellion, The Fifth Wellington Lecture, University of Southampton, University of Southampton, 1993.
• Diana Preston. The Boxer Rebellion by , Berkley Books, New York, 2000 ISBN 0-425-18084-0 online edition
• Preston, Diana. "The Boxer Rising." Asian Affairs (2000) 31(1): 26-36. Issn: 0306-8374 Fulltext: in Ebsco
• Victor Purcell; The Boxer Uprising: A background study, (1963) online edition
• Sterling Seagrave, Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China Vintage Books, New York, 1992 ISBN 0-679-73369-8 Challenges the notion that the Empress-Dowager used the Boxers. She is portrayed sympathetically.
• 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
• Marina Warner. The Dragon Empress The Life and Times of Tz'u-hsi, 1835-1908, Empress Dowager of China , Vintage, UK, US 1993, ISBN 0-09-916591-0

Primary sources

• 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 Fulltext: in Jstor