Boxer Rebellion

For the alternative rock band from London, United Kingdom, see The Boxer Rebellion (band).

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

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 Austria-Hungary Italy	Righteous Harmony Society Qing Empire
Commanders and leaders
Nikolai Petrovich Linevich Sir Edward Seymour Alfred Graf von Waldersee	Ci Xi Zaiyi, Prince Duan Ronglu Yuan Shikai Nie Shicheng † Ma Yukun Song Qing Dong Fuxiang Ma Anliang Ma Fulu † Ma Fuxiang Ma Fuxing Ma Haiyan Ma Qi Ma Lin Colonel Yao Wang
Cao Futian Ni Zanqing
Strength
50,255 total (Expeditionary Force) 100,000 Russian troops for Manchurian Occupation	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+

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

Template:Fix bunching The Boxer Rebellion, also called The Boxer Uprising by some historians or Kennedi T.Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" (義和團 - 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.

The Boxers enjoyed massive popular support in northern China. 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"). The Boxers were only lightly armed, claiming supernatural invulnerability towards blows of cannon, rifle gunshots, and knife attacks.

In June 1900 in Beijing, Boxer fighters theatened foreigners and forced them to seek refuge in the Legation Quarter. 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 and soldiers, and Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter were under siege by the Imperial Army of China and the Boxers for 55 days The Chinese government equivocated between destroying the foreigners in the Legation Quarter and extending olive branches. Clashes were reported between Chinese factions favoring war and those favoring conciliation, the latter led by Prince Qing. Later, the supreme commander of the Chinese forces, Ronglu, claimed that he acted to protect the besieged foreigners.

The siege was raised when the Eight-Nation Alliance brought 20,000 armed troops to China, defeated the Imperial Army, and captured Beijing. 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 consisting largely of people who had lost their livelihoods due to imperialism and natural disasters. Westerners came to call the well-trained, athletic young men "Boxers" due to the martial arts and calisthenics they practiced. The Boxers' primary feature is spirit possession, which involved:

the whirling of swords, violent prostrations, and chanting incantations to Taoist and Buddhist spirits. When the spirit possession had been achieved, the boxers would allegedly obtain invulnerability against guns and cannon.

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 laid the blame on Christian missionaries, Chinese Christians, and the Europeans colonizing their country. Missionaries were protected under the policy of extraterritoriality. Chinese Christians were alleged also to have filed false lawsuits.

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. Although the Big Swords had heterodox practices, they were not bandits and were not seen as such by Chinese authorities. Their efficiency in defeating banditry led to a flood of cases overwhelming the magistrates, to which the Big Swords responded by executing the bandits that were apprehended. The Big Swords relentlessly hunted the bandits, but the bandits converted to Catholic Christianity, gaining them legal immunity from prosecution and also placed them under the protection of the foreigners. The Big Swords responded by attacking bandit Catholic churches and burning them. As a result, Yuxian executed several Big Sword leaders, but did not punish anyone else. More secret societies started emerging after this.

The early years saw a variety of village activities, not a broad movement or a united purpose. Like the Red Boxing school or the Plum Flower Boxers, the Boxers of Shandong were more concerned with traditional social and moral values, such as filial piety, than with foreign influences. One leader, for instance, Zhu Hongdeng (Red Lantern Zhu),started as a wandering healer, specializing in skin ulcers, and gained wide respect of refusing payment for his treatments. Zhu claimed descent from Ming dynasty Emperors, since his surname was the surname of the Ming Imperial Family. He announced that his goal was "Fan Qing Fu Ming) (Overthrow Qing to Restore Ming).

After the Hundred Days' Reform failed in 1898, the conservative Empress Dowager Cixi seized power and placed the reformist Guangxu Emperor under 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 which would also weaken the Boxers. Thus, the Boxer slogan became "support the Qing, destroy the Foreign." (扶清灭洋) Aggression toward missionaries and Christians gained the attention of foreign (mainly European) governments.

Causes

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

By 1900, the great powers had already been chipping away at Chinese sovereignty for sixty years. They had forced China to import opium, thus leading to 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, which had ruled China for more than two centuries, was crumbling and Chinese culture was under assault by powerful and unfamiliar 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 and 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 and xenophobic reactions 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 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, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, who came to China in ever increasing numbers. The exemption of missionaries from various laws angered the local Chinese. In 1899, the French Minister in Beijing help the missionaries to obtain an edict granting official status to every order in the Roman Catholic hierarchy, enabling local priests to support their people in legal or family disputes and bypass the local officials. After the German government took over the territory in Shandong, many Chinese feared that the missionaries and quite possibly all Christians were representing imperialist attempts of "carving the melon," i.e. to divide and colonise China piece by piece. 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 often singled out East Asians and incited fear of Yellow Peril in Europe and also justified violence against the 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, the Boxers and thousands of Chinese Muslim Kansu warriors under General Dong Fuxiang of the Imperial Army 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 Emperor Guangxu to institute reforms, which alienated many conservative officials by their sweeping nature and led the Empress Dowager to intervene and reverse. The failure of the reform movement disillusioned many educated Chinese, thus further weakened the Qing government.

The beginning

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

Chinese Forces

Boxers

The Boxers themselves used modern weaponry, such as Krupp artillery and rifles. Their dislike of Westerners only extended to everything unrelated 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, and both missionaries and Chinese Christian converts were killed. Boxers with rifles and swords attacked Russian Cossacks in June, 1900, and both sides suffered casualties.

Dong Fuxiang was a sworn brother to Li Laizhong, another Boxer supporter and anti foreigner, who commanded Boxers from Shanxi.

The 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.

In January 1900, with a majority of conservatives in the Imperial Court, the Empress Dowager changed her long policy of suppressing Boxers, and issued edicts in their defence, causing protests from foreign powers. In June 1900, completely disregarding diplomatic immunity, the Boxers and some elements of the Imperial army attacked the foreign compounds in Tianjin and Beijing. The legations, namely those of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, the US, Russia and Japan, were altogether located in the Beijing Legation Quarter near the Forbidden City. The legations were hurriedly fortified and became a refuge for foreigners. The Spanish and Belgian legations were located a few streets away, and their staff were able to arrive safely at the compound. The German legation elsewhere in the city was stormed before the staff managed to escape. The German envoy, Klemens Freiherr von Ketteler was murdered on 20 June, and the foreign powers immediately demanded redress. On 21 June Empress Dowager Cixi declared war against all Foreign powers. However, a number of 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 were concerned with China's situation and foreign aggression, and said 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.

Equipment and tactics

The Imperial Chinese army was equipped with modern Mauser repeater rifles, Krupp Artillery and swords. The Chinese artillery was reported to be superior to allied artillery as the allies lacked suitable artillery pieces. Mining, engineering, flooding, and simultaneous multiple attacks were employed by Chinese troops along with modern artillery. The Chinese employed pincer movements, ambushes, and sniper tactics with some success against the foreigners.

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.

Muslim Kansu Braves of the Imperial Army

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 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.

Dong refused 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 Islamic troops were organized into eight battalions of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, two brigades of artillery, and one company of engineers. In contrast to the Manchu and other Chinese soldiers who used arrows and bows, the Kansu cavalry had the newest carbine rifles. The Muslims were mostly cavalry, wearing black turbans, waving scarlet and block banners, with Mauser rifles.

The Boxers were ordered by the Imperial court to take commands from Dong Fuxiang and the Muslim Kansu troops. General Dong and Manchu Prince Tuan were linked through Prince Tuan's father, Prince Tun, who reached an agreement with Dong in 1869. Dong Fuxiang's 5,000 troops, including Muslim General Ma Fuxiang, posted in southern Beijing at Hunting Park, attacked and defeated the Eight Nation Alliance 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 June 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. 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 saving the foreigners and making diplomatic concessions. 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 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.

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. 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.

Another Muslim general, Ma Anliang, Tongling of Ho-Chou, joined the Kansu braves in fighting the foreigners. A Muslim martial artist, Wang Zi-Ping, had joined the Boxers when it began fighting against the foreigners.

Summary of battles of General Dong Fuxiang:

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

Han Troops of the Imperial Army

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 fight against the Western Allies and the Boxers at the same time, also it ordered General Nie not to use all the force at his disposal to crush the Allied troops, this 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 Qing 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, Hushenying, 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. The Hushenying was named because Hu means tiger, and Yang, the word for lamb, was a nickname for foreigners, who were also called Yang in Chinese. and the "Divine" (shen) name came from the fact that gui, another term for foreigners, meant devil, and the divine counteracted the devils, as 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 Tieling.

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.

Nature of Chinese tactics

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 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.

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, because 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 Tientsin, 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 and to steal property. The Muslim Kansu braves killed 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 still stealing from their hosts of several thousands dollars worth of property. This specific rampage was set off after Clemens von Ketteler killed a Chinese boy in one of his rages. Anger against the Chinese Christians set off again, and the Boxers roasted some of them alive.

The Missionary Herald normally published letters and telegrams sent by Protestant missionaries 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

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 1 July, 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 25 June, 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. On 13 July, the French legation was demolished by Chinese mining explosives. 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 foreigners safety in the Zongli Yamen. They even declared a cease fire from 14 July- 4 August, 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.

Peaceful Chinese intention

The Dowager Empress did not order the Chinese Imperial troops to conduct a siege, on the contrary, she ordered them to protect the foreigners in the legations, it was Prince Duan who led the Boxers in, for them to loot his enemies within the Imperial court and the foreigners, and in fact, when the Boxers originally were let into the city and went on a looting rampage, against both the foreign and the Chinese Imperial forces, the Imperial authority kicked them out, the old Boxers were sent outside Beijing to halt the invading foreign armies, while young Boxers were absorbed into the Muslim Kansu army.

The Chinese army fired several firecrackers multiple times at the legations to make it seem as though they were pressing a siege, while they were not. The commander of all the forces, Ronglu, tried to negotiate for a ceasefire, but it was the foreigners who opened fire on Dong Fuxiang's army. The foreigners in the legations opened fire on Chinese officials, forces, and other people without provocation, killing numerous people, the Muslim army was forced to defend itself by returning fire. When the Chinese forces built notices and sent messengers notifying the foreigners that the Imperial Chinese forces were going to protect them, and open up communications, and to cease fire, the foreigners in the legations responded by shooting and killing the messengers and refused to make peace. It was the British minister who dragged Chinese Christians with him into the Su Wang Fu palace after removing Su Wang Fu from the palace.

The only soldiers who wanted to press a siege, were Dong Fuxiang's Muslim warriors, who were allied to the anti foreign Prince Duan, who had originally allowed the Boxers to come into the city. Ronglu directed his own forces to instead protect the foreigners in the legations, per the Dowager Empress's decree, and only fired purposely misdirected shots and firecrackers to make it seem as though they were fighting.

Torching of Chinese dwellings

On 23 June 1900 the Boxer rebels started setting fire to areas north and west 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. Several international forces were sent to the capital, with various success, and 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 international force

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). After covering the 80 miles distance to the capital, these troops joined the legations and were able to contribute to their defense.

Seymour Expedition

Main article: Seymour Expedition, China 1900

Main article: Seymour Expedition

As the situation worsened a second international force of 2,000 sailors and 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.

Japanese marines who served under the British commander Seymour.

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.

Gaselee Expedition

Main article: Gasalee Expedition

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 Dagu 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, fighting battles at Beicang and Yangcun. At Yangcun 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 August, 14. 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.

Russian Invasion of Manchuria

Crushing of boxers in Northern and Central Manchuria

Main article: Crushing of boxers in Northern and Central Manchuria

Boxers attacks on Chinese Eastern Railway

Main article: Boxers attacks on Chinese Eastern Railway

Battles on Amur River (1900)

Main article: Battles on Amur River (1900)

Defence of Yingkou

Main article: Defence of Yingkou

Battle of Pai-t'ou-tzu

Main article: Battle of Pai-t'ou-tzu

Aftermath

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 American missionary William Scott 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."

"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 G. Squiers, 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 Beitang or 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 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

Foreign armies in Beijing

The American missionary Luella Miner acknowledged that the Boxers regularly killed and mutilated foreigners, including women and children, but she felt obliged to say that they did not commit rape. Western forces, on the other hand, went on a killing, looting, and raping rampage against Chinese civilians. It was reported that Japanese troops were astonished by the western troops engaging in raping. Thousands of Chinese women committed suicide, leading to the presumption that they had been 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".

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.

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.

Ma Jun (馬駿), a Muslim, 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 taels 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 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 consequences

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.

French Médaille commémorative de l'expédition de Chine (1901). Musée de la Légion d'Honneur.

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.

From the beginning, views have differed 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 at first believed that the Boxer Movement was stirred up by the Qing government’s rumors, which “caused confusion among the populace,” and led to his “scathing criticism” of the the Boxers’ “anti-foreignism and obscurantism.” He concluded that the "anti-foreignism sponsored by the Manchus reached its pinnacle in the Boxer Upheavals of 1900." In 1918, however,Sun 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 recent years the Boxers have been debated in the People's Republic, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The philosopher Tang Junyi viewed the Boxer Uprising as a religious war between the Chinese and Christianity. In 1998, the critical scholar Wang Yi argued that the Boxers had features in common with the Cultural Revolution. Both events had the external goal of “liquidating all harmful pests” and the domestic goal of “eliminating bad elements of all descriptions” and this relation was rooted in “cultural obscurantism.” Wang traced the changes in attitudes towards the Boxers from the condemnation of the May Fourth Movement to the approval expressed by Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution. In 2006 Yuan Weishi, a professor of philosophy at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, criticized the official government-issued middle schools history textbooks. Yuan wrote that the Boxers by their "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. These views were criticized and some labeled Yuan Weishi "Hanjian" (漢奸, betrayer of the Han)

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.
• 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 (2001). Peking 1900: The Boxer Rebellion. Oxford: Osprey. p. 96. ISBN 1-84176-181-8. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• 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

• Boxer Rebellion on In Our Time at the BBC
• 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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