The Boxer Rebellion

 

Many unfortunate souls lost their lives during the Boxer Rebellion which began in November of 1899 and ended with the signing of the Boxer Protocol on September 7, 1901. The Boxers originated from a group called the Righteous Harmonious Fists but the westerners referred to them as the Boxers because they performed physical exercises they believed would make them able to withstand bullets. One of the China’s rulers, Tzu Hsi, viewed the Boxers as a way of getting rid of the foreigners, which were considered troublemakers, without the use of imperial support. Eight countries stepped in to stop the rebellion. The only time in history that has ever happened. A foreign form of religion, Christianity, was being accepted by a minority of the Chinese. The Chinese Christians were referred to as traitors and the foreigners considered evil. Conflicting views and misunderstandings usually serve as the impetus for violence. Thousands died as a result of the Boxer Rebellion.

    The Whitaker’s Almanack contained the count of Chinese and foreigners in China in 1900. The entire empire of China consisted of 300 million people and 10,855 were foreigners. Broken down into countries: 4,362 Britains, 1,439 Americans, 933 French, 870 Germans, and 852 Japanese. Language barriers, culture and internal disputes between foreigners and the Chinese created difficulties concerning the interpretation of each other’s behaviors and motivations.

    The unofficial support of Tzu His, one of China’s rulers, was not the only reason for the rise of the group called the Boxers. Other problems arose such as natural disasters. Two harvests failed which led to widespread famine. A plague of locusts added to their misery. The Yellow River overflowed and flooded hundreds of villages. The Chinese people also went through political, economic and military sanctions placed upon them by Western Powers and Japan. The Chinese people realized they could not do much about the natural disasters but they could do something about the foreigners and their modern ideas (Bodin, 2008).

    During the late 1890s, the general population of China felt the Christian converts behaviors started getting out of hand. Their numbers grew exponentially and they became more demanding. Tzu His said “These Chinese Christians are the worst people in China. They rob the poor country people of heir land and property, and the missionaries, of course, always protect them, in order to get a share themselves” (Preston, 2000, pg. 26). To make matters worse, their new religion prohibited them from participating in ancient ceremonies at their villages such as ancestor worship which was fundamental to Chinese life. The close-knit social fabric of town and village life fell apart and they were ostracized from their own communities. The converts had to rely on the missions for their survival. They worked as servants and bearers. They represented the poorest groups and they were referred to as “rice Christians” because they converted to fill their bellies (Preston, 2000).

    The Boxer movement spread like wildfire. They offered a lifeline to the poor and destitute residing along the countryside. Many young men flooded the boxing grounds to watch as the Boxers would call upon a god to possess them and they fell into a trance while twirling and dancing with their weapons in their hands. They dared onlookers to attack them. An issued promise of invulnerability served as an irresistible temptation for those who felt they had little power in their daily lives. The Boxers, an ill organized group, claimed to have supernatural powers. Its members came from the poor and dispossessed from northern China with a goal of eliminating foreigners and the Chinese Christians.

    Herbert Hoover referred to the Boxers as an emotional movement which was not unusual for China. He was right, the movement served as an impetus to the worsening and desperate condition in northern China. The area of Shantung was the birth place of the Boxers. It happened to be a poor and overpopulated province and the birthplace of Confucius. The place had been hit hard by the flooding of foreign goods such as textiles. The new foreign technology wreaked havoc on the economy. The steamboats put thousands of bargemen out of work. Many camel-men, mule-drivers, chair bearers and innkeepers lost their jobs due to the railways (Preston, 2000).

    The Boxers despised and feared the railways, not only for the economic harm the railways caused the Chinese people. They had strong beliefs that the “iron centipedes” or “firecarts” destroyed the land and disturbed the graves of their ancestors. They said “The ponderous locomotives and rumbling trains pressed heavily the head of the Dragon and that his beneficent exhalations were mothered and no clouds could from in the heavens” (Preston, 2000, pg. 30).

    The Boxers carried the same feelings and fear for telegraph lines and cut them whenever possible. They believed the wind grousing through the high telegraph poles sounded like they were spirits in anguish. The rust dripping from the wires appeared to be the blood of spirits of the air. The mining of minerals served as the worst torment of the Chinese earth. “When we have slaughtered them all, we shall tear up the railways, cut down the telegraphs, and then finish off by burning their steamboats” (Preston, 2000, pg. 30).

 

        Another source of contention was the Chinese people’s inability to let go of their antiquities. They wanted to hold onto the way they have always done things and not embrace the new technology introduced by the foreigners.

    China suffered many encroachments during the last decade of the 19^th century. The English, French, Germans, and Russians took valuable land and port sites in China from the Chinese people through unsavory methods and while doing so they showed no respect for them. In 1896 the Germans took over the two areas of Kiaochow and Tsingtao soon after two German priests were murdered. The Germans used the murders as an excuse to seize the two areas. The Russians coerced the Chinese to give them a lease on Port Arthur and Darien. The French took over Kwangchowwan in the south and the British gained access to Wei-Hai-Wei through a 25 year lease. America’s interest in China was primarily commercial. They sought trading opportunities instead of territory (Bodin, 2008).

    The white Anglo-Saxons carried a belief of superiority over all other races.  The British and Americans believed the Anglo-Saxon race to be considered prominent among the white races which meant they could rightly dominate the rest. The Americans viewed the Chinese and their Chinatowns as places filled with drugs, prostitution and other irreducible elements of society. Chinese labor was welcomed during the 1850s but when the country suffered an economic downturn during 1860s and 1870s, there was a resentment towards their willingness to work for low rages and would often break strikes. Westerners believed the Orientals as being less evolved and more prone to savage animal instincts. Americans and other Westerners placed importance on physical interests and material possessions which led to their success in the world markets. Their vast inventions of material things had great appeal for people of democracy (Preston, 2000).

    On the other hand, the Chinese existed in a world based on superstitions and believed the foreigners were evil and the Chinese Christians traitors. Superstitions and magical practices, associated with the Boxer movement, involved incantations and trance-like states amongst their followers. Many people watched as they prepared in awe. The Boxers began their campaign by their promotion of propaganda. They used a network of printing presses and distributed tens of thousands of leaflets and handbills about the Catholic Church and the atrocities they committed on women and children. The Boxers also promised to bring back rain to ensure bountiful harvests.

    The Chinese Government tried to stop the Boxer movement, however, the governors and military officials who were anti-Boxer, lost their positions. Predominantly, through most of 1899 the Boxers focused their attention on the Chinese Christians, many of their businesses faced obliteration. Only a few people lost their lives. On December 30, 1899, a few Boxers killed Reverend S. M. Brooks, a British missionary, and this action gained much notoriety. The British and Germans protested the murder. As a result, two Boxers faced execution, and another had to serve life in prison.  

    The Dowager Empress, Tzu Hsi, issued an imperial edict that claimed secret societies functioned as part of Chinese life and their actions were not to be considered criminal. Her declaration involved the acceptance of citizens who joined groups and practiced martial arts for their self-defense. They should not be considered hostile by foreigners and Christians. Her actions instilled rage by the foreign diplomats in Peking and they protested her decree. She ignored their protests. The Empress issued three edicts warning Yuan Shih-K’ai, a Chinese Military and Government Official, about his use of military force to manage the Boxers. Tzu Hsi did everything she could to support the Boxer movement without openly supporting their movement. She opened doors for the Boxers to proceed on their campaign to rid China of the foreigners and Chinese Christians.

    The Boxers campaign was on the fast track by the spring of 1900. At the town of Pao Ting Fu, 70 Chinese Christians met their untimely deaths. The town was 60 miles southwest of Peking.

     Many Chinese Christians hid from the Boxers and Qing imperial army at the Peking Legations Quarter. A Legation was originally a common form of diplomatic mission headed by ministers. These fell out of favor after WWII and were upgraded to embassies headed by ambassadors. The people at the legations wondered how they could defend themselves against an inevitable attack by the Qing army and the Boxers. The British legation compound, with the Jade River on one side and Imperial Carriage Park on the other, had the most protected position. On May 30, 1900, antiforeign demonstrations raged  in the streets of Peking by the Boxers. Panic-stricken refugees flooded the city. British refugees were offered refuge at the British legation. Other legations opened their gates for the desperate refugees. Approximately 2,800 Chinese Christians sought safety at various legations and within the walls of Peking.

   

 

 

   

    Peking served as a wonder and fortress by many onlookers and inhabitants. The beauty and complexity of its architecture proved to be structurally safe and foreboding. The walls of the ancient city reached 30 feet in height and approximately 20 feet thick. The walls of the Tartar or the inner city connected to the north were immense, over 40 feet high, with 60 feet at the base and 50 feet at the top of the walls. There were nine iron-studded gates at the outer walls. Within the inner city, which was referred to as the Imperial City, many palaces, temples, public offices and gardens cast an air of elegance over the city (Preston, 2000).

    On June 9, 1900 the first Boxer attack occurred in Peking. The Racecourse was burned to the ground. Sir Claude MacDonald, the British minister in Peking, wired Admiral Seymour at Taku and requested a large relief force. Those staying at the Legation Quarter knew they were the next target. The Boxers cut the telegraph line to Tientsin and they stopped regular mail. Imperial troops worked alongside the Boxers and artillery was mounted along the city walls facing the Legation Quarter. A new administrator was appointed to the Tsungli Yamen (The Chinese Foreign Office) who happened to be a pro-Boxer which aided the Boxers with their pending campaign.

    Circumstances quickly went downhill when Mr. Sugiyama, the Chancellor of the Japanese Legation, met his untimely death while on his way to the railway station to meet the expected Seymour’s relief battalion. Chinese Christians and foreigners fled to the two remaining groups of Westerners and converts in Peking which was the Legation Quarter and the Pei T’ang Cathedral.

    On June 16 the Boxers set fire to a large area of the Peking city that contained stores and shops that provided goods to foreigners and they destroyed approximately 4,000 businesses. The ministers received an edict which ordered them to leave Peking and move to Tientsin. They wisely decided to ignore the ultimatum.

    The ministers requested a meeting with the Tsungli Yamen of which they received no response. The German minister, Baron von Ketteler, did not want to wait any longer and set out to meet with the group and while in route an imperial soldier killed him. The Tsungli Yamen ignored the notice of the minister’s death and requested the ministers to reconsider the previous edict to leave Peking. Approximately 125 civilians and volunteers stepped up to provide armed protection for the foreigners and Chinese Christians and called themselves “Thornhill’s Roughs.” They were armed with an assortment of hunting and sporting guns. Later they were referred to as “The Carving Knife Brigade” because of the knives attached to the muzzles of their guns that served as bayonets. A French and Italian officer along with 30 French and 11 Italian sailors joined their brigade.

    The Legation defenders made use of all available volunteers. All foreigners without military experience served on a variety of committees which consisted of general duties, sanitation, fuel, water, fortification, labor, food ration and fire defense committees. A system to ration food was established which placed more importance on fresh meat, fruits and vegetables. Sufficient supplies of rice and canned products were made available by some of the stores. The foreigners did not supply food rations to the Chinese Christians. They ended up eating rats, dogs, plants, roots and garbage. The healthy Chinese men had to work two hours a day for the general good. The work included reinforcing barricades, cleaning up garbage, digging countermines and the digging of graves. The women served as nurses and sewed many sandbags for the barricades (Bodin, 1979).

    The streets of Peking became a living nightmare. Boxers shouted “Sha Sha!” (kill, kill) that could be heard in the distance. Parts of the city were set on fire. The Chinese Christians, who did not burn in the fires, suffered agonizing deaths by being cut to pieces by the Boxers’ knives. Many men, women and children lay in large piles, some hacked to pieces, others burned, throats cut from ear to ear, some still moving while others immobile.

    The Boxers tortured many of their victims in temples while offering incantations before their gods, offering Christians in sacrifice.

    Fortunately hundreds of foreigners and Chinese Christians were brought to safety. A multitude of them suffered horrendous wounds and were covered in soot and ashes from the fires (Bodin, 1979).

   

    Edward Seymour, Commander-in-chief of the British China Station, carried out a rather failed attempt to provide protection for the inhabitants at Peking. Once he received the request from Sir Claude MacDonald, he immediately organized a battalion for the advance. He departed Taku with the Royal Marines and Bluejackets and marched to Tientsin. His entourage consisted of 2,100 men: 915 British; 512 Germans; 312 Russians; 157 French; 111 Americans; 54 Japanese; 42 Italians and 26 Austrians (Bodin, 1979).

    Admiral Seymour decided to travel by train to Peking and he thought he would arrive by the end of the day. He only brought rations for three days. The distance from Tientsin to Peking was 100 miles. Others felt he was overconfident regarding the venture because there hostile Boxers along the way and the imperial army. Seymour thought ahead and brought supplies to fix broken railroad tracks. They advanced 25 miles, only to Yang Tsun, before they encountered severely damaged tracks.

    After two more days the battalion ended up at Lang Fang about 40 miles from Peking. They encountered a force of Boxers. The enemy fled the scene and they started making repairs on the train tracks. The scouts, who were sent ahead, could not get further than An Ting because of a strong Boxer resistance. The supplies for track repairs and rations started running very low. A train was sent back to Tientsin for supplies and it returned to Lang Fang empty. The troops reported that the tracks were put out of service from Yang Tsun to Tientsin. The trains proceeded back to Yang Tsun very slowly. German scouts returned to the trains to report that they had a skirmish with the imperial troops who seemed to have joined with the Boxers which devastated Seymour.

    The trains reached the river at Yang Tsun and they discovered the bridge was too dangerous to cross. They decided to march the rest of the way to Tientsin. The battalion captured junks on the river to haul the wounded and artillery. They departed on the 9^th of June for this mission and by June 22^nd after a very slow progression, the battalion ended up at a government building that was weakly guarded by a few Chinese. The building was taken over by Seymour’s battalion. Seymour discovered they captured the Imperial Chinese Arsenal at Hsiku, loaded with food, water, arms and ammunition. He decided to remain at Hsiku until rescued. On the 26^th of June, a group of Russian soldiers came to their aid. Their attempt to rescue Peking failed dejectedly.

 

    The international Legation Quarter survived a 55 day siege conducted by the Qing Army and Boxers.  A never before alliance occurred between eight military powers of the world. This has never happened before and has never happened again. For approximately a year military and naval recruits from Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States joined forces against a common enemy which was a social order  who had a goal of eliminating through murder and torture all foreigners and Chinese Christians in China. These homicidal villains, called the Boxers and Qing Army, managed to accomplish part of their goal. The Allies heard the legations fell under the imperial and Boxer rule. The efforts to relieve Peking had been revitalized when a messenger made his way through the Chinese lines to inform the Allies in Tientisin that the Peking Legations remained in foreign control.

    The force numbered approximately: 10,000 Japanese, 4,000 Russians, 3,000 British, 2,000 Americans, 800 French, 200 Germans, 58 Austrians and 53 Italians. The first place they stopped was Pei Ho which was north of Tientsin. A fleet of junks, carts and wagons carried their supply of food and ammunition. Weather conditions basically left the force parched and choking on dust with 104 degrees and made the takeover of this location more difficult (Bodin, 1979).

    Scouts reported the Chinese grouped at Pei Tsang which was seven miles north of Tientsin. The force proceeded to that location and the battle began shortly after their arrival. After the location fell under the Allies control and the Chinese fled, they proceeded to Yang Tsun, ten miles north of Tientsin. The men collapsed under the weight of their packs and the extreme heat. However, the Allies managed to take over one trench after another until Yang Tsun fell under the control of the Allies.

    Their next stop was the walled city of Tungchow and their advance through the heat and dust ended up being very slow. The city was not heavily guarded and it appeared that the city was left to the Boxers, who looted, killed and burned before they fled. The Allied generals held a meeting to plan their attack on Peking. They wanted the final advance on Peking to be well-planned with executed maneuvers. The assault was scheduled for the morning of August 15^th.

    Russian scouts reported they were able to advance to a few hundred yards of the Peking walls. Specific Ally countries had been given specific gates to storm. The Russians decided to attack the gate the Americans were assigned and were not successful. The Americans reacted to their move by advancing at daybreak. The General in charge, General Gaselee, saw his coordinated plans ignored, ordered a general advance immediately. The British entered the Legation Quarter and ended the 55 day siege.

    Traffic jams and fighting occurred at the other gates which slowed the advances of the other Allies. The Russians marched into the Legation Quarter two hours after the British. The Japanese decided to assault the area the Russians were assigned too along with their own assignment, which slowed them down considerably.

    The Dowager Empress, Tsu Hsi fled with part of her entourage while other members of the court were murdered during the nights of August 14 and 15. Hsu Tung, ordered to form a new government, hung himself.  What was left of the imperial court set up their residence at Sian, 700 miles southwest of Peking. The empress hoped to start negotiations with the Allies.

    The Americans entered the Forbidden City where the palace of the empress was located at Peking and discovered heavy Chinese resistance. The Chinese fired at them from three directions. They finally reached the area of the palace and were told to withdraw. They were shocked. After fighting for most of the morning, they lost 15 men and many wounded. A Franco-Russian protest to the other Allied commanders and ministers convinced the Allies to put a halt to the assault. They had no choice, they did not want to risk endangering peace among the Allies.

    Peking ended up being divided among the Allies into zones in which each country had the authority to control their assigned zone. Chinese attempts at setting up a temporary government failed miserably. The Allies spent time looting or defending against looting. For some reason, The American and British troops could not take part in any looting. However, Russians, French, Germans and Japanese felt it was their right as victors to tear apart Peking. They stripped the city of much of its art, gold and silver. The ancient astronomical instruments at the Peking observatory found its way to Europe.

    After the American assault on August 15, the Forbidden lay untouched until the 28^th. On the 27^th, the Allied ministers and generals held a victory march through the Forbidden City. Representatives from the eight countries and a group of Legation defenders marched proudly. The occupation at Peking was complete (Bodin, 1979).

   

    The Boxers did not disappear overnight. Through the months of September and part of October campaigns against them continued in various locations. On October 20 the last Boxer resistance was captured at Pao Ting Fu. The town was sacked and burned as punishment.

    A series of war crime trials were held by representatives of all eight Allied powers. The commission tried Chinese military leaders, Boxers and Chinese officials. Most were put to death. The commission charged huge fines to cities to help pay for the Allied expedition. The Allied representatives at the peace talks were the ministers of the eight military powers. They did not want to be lenient. Three points needed to be covered. The responsible Boxers and Chinese officials must be severely punished, China must pay the cost of the Allied military expedition and all existing treaties between China and the Allies need to be renegotiated.

    Nine more points entered into the peace talks. China had to send a representative to Berlin to apologize for Baron von Ketteler’s death and a monument to honor him erected at Peking. A similar mission was to be held to honor Mr. Sugiyama’s death. Places where foreigners lost their lives was not allowed to have Civil Service test for five years, a serious punishment directed at Chinese officials and scholars. Monuments had to be erected in foreign and Chinese Christian cemeteries destroyed by Boxers. China was not permitted to import arms or war material for two years. Orders directed the Tuku forts to be destroyed. A defense line built around the perimeter of the Legation Quarter in Peking and Chinese citizens were not permitted to reside within the perimeter. The Allies could manage the lines of communication between Peking and the coast. Imperial edicts issued to ensure that any violence against foreigners was a crime punishable by death. Local officials were held responsible for the safety of foreigners. The Tsungli Yamen must be replaced by a more modern foreign office.

    For the most part the Imperial edicts met most of the Allied demands which included the erection of monuments, anti-foreignism declared a crime punishable by death, and heavy fines paid to the Allies. The Empress, Tsu His, made vast attempts to redeem herself. She apologized to many of the ministers and their wives for their sufferings during the siege.

    The Boxer Rebellion served as a black eye to China’s prestige in the world. After Japan defeated China in 1894-95, China was placed second among Asian countries. The defeat by the Allies caused them to lose more prestige. The Boxer Rebellion was one of the reasons for the fall of the Manchu Dynasty in 1912. China did embrace modernization after the rebellion which benefited the country. And never again would the flags of the eight Allied powers fly together in joined military operations against a common enemy (Bodin, 1979).