Editing Boxer Rebellion (section)

== Background ==
=== Christian missionary activity ===
According to [[John King Fairbank]]:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fairbank |first=John King |title=The United States and China |year=1983 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-92438-3 |edition=4th |series=American foreign policy library |location=Cambridge, MA |page=202 |orig-date=1948}}</ref>
<blockquote>The opening of the country in the 1860s facilitated the great effort to Christianize China. Building on old [French] foundations, the Roman Catholic establishment totaled by 1894 some 750 European missionaries, 400 native priests, and over half a million communicants. By 1894 the newer Protestant mission effort supported over 1300 missionaries, mainly British and American, and maintained some 500 stations-each with a church, residences, street chapels, and usually a small school and possibly a hospital or dispensary-in about 350 different cities and towns. Yet they had made fewer than 60,000 Chinese Christian converts.</blockquote>

There was limited success in terms of converts and establishing schools in a nation of about 400&nbsp;million people.<ref>Nigel Dalziel, ''The Penguin Historical Atlas of the British Empire'' (2006) pp. 102–103.</ref><ref>Andrew N. Porter, ed. ''The Imperial Horizons of British Protestant Missions, 1880–1914'' (Eerdmans, 2003).</ref> The missions faced escalating anger directed at the threat of cultural imperialism. The main result was the Boxer Rebellion, in which missions were attacked and thousands of Chinese Christians were massacred to destroy Western influences.

=== Origin of the Boxers ===
[[File:Boxer Rebellion.png|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Movement of Boxers and Alliance forces during the rebellion]]
The [[Righteous and Harmonious Fists]] arose in the inland sections of the northern coastal province of [[Shandong]],{{sfnp|Hammond|2023|p=131}} a region which had long been plagued by social unrest, religious sects, and martial societies. American Christian missionaries were probably the first people who referred to the well-trained, athletic young men as the "Boxers", because of the martial arts which they practised and the weapons training which they underwent. Their primary practice was a type of [[Chinese spirit possession|spiritual possession]] which involved the whirling of swords, violent prostrations, and incantations to deities.{{sfnp|Thompson|2009|p=7}}

The opportunities to fight against Western encroachment were especially attractive to unemployed village men, many of whom were teenagers.{{sfnp|Cohen|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jVESdBSMasMC&pg=PA114 114]}} The tradition of possession and invulnerability went back several hundred years but took on special meaning against the powerful new weapons of the West.{{sfnp|Esherick|1987|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jVESdBSMasMC&pg=PA54 xii, 54–59, 96, ff.]}} The Boxers, armed with rifles and swords, claimed supernatural invulnerability against cannons, rifle shots, and knife attacks. The Boxer groups popularly claimed that millions of soldiers would descend out of heaven to assist them in purifying China of foreign oppression.{{sfnp|Xiang|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lAxresT12ogC&pg=PA114 114]}} Members demonstrated their claimed invulnerability to new initiates by firing guns loaded with blank rounds at one another.<ref>{{cite web |title=Weird War: Bullet-Proof Boxers and the Cosmopolitan Cannon |url=https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/osprey-blog/2008/weird-war-bullet-proof-boxers-and-the-cosmopolitan-cannon/ |work=Osprey Blog |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]] |access-date=30 March 2025 |date=13 June 2008 |quote=The Boxers claimed that once someone was initiated into the society they would be immune from bullets, and they proved this by firing guns loaded with blanks at their own members. Unfortunately, as the violence escalated and soldiers from the western powers got involved, this bullet immunity was quickly disproved.}}</ref>

In 1895, despite ambivalence toward their heterodox practices, [[Yuxian (Qing dynasty)|Yuxian]], a Manchu who was the then prefect of [[Cao Prefecture]] and would later become provincial governor, cooperated with the [[Big Swords Society]], whose original purpose was to fight bandits.<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20">{{harvp|Cohen|1997|pp=[https://archive.org/details/historyinthreeke00paul/page/19/mode/1up 19–20]}}</ref> The German Catholic missionaries of the [[Society of the Divine Word]] had built up their presence in the area, partially by taking in a significant portion of converts who were "in need of protection from the law".<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20" /> On one occasion in 1895, a large bandit gang defeated by the Big Swords Society claimed to be Catholics to avoid prosecution. "The line between Christians and bandits became increasingly indistinct", remarks historian [[Paul Cohen (historian)|Paul Cohen]].<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20" />

Some missionaries such as [[Georg Maria Stenz]] also used their privileges to intervene in lawsuits. The Big Swords responded by attacking Catholic properties and burning them.<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20" /> As a result of diplomatic pressure in the capital, Yuxian executed several Big Sword leaders but did not punish anyone else. More martial secret societies started emerging after this.<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20" />

The early years saw a variety of village activities, not a broad movement with a united purpose. Martial folk-religious societies such as the [[Baguadao]] ('Eight Trigrams') prepared the way for the Boxers. Like the Red Boxing school or the [[Plum Flower tradition]], the Boxers of Shandong were more concerned with traditional social and moral values, such as filial piety, than with foreign influences. One leader, Zhu Hongdeng (Red Lantern Zhu), started as a wandering healer, specialising in skin ulcers, and gained wide respect by refusing payment for his treatments.{{sfnp|Cohen|1997|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ky4_whmgIZcC&pg=PA30 27–30]}} Zhu claimed descent from [[Ming dynasty]] emperors, since his surname was the surname of the Ming imperial family. He announced that his goal was to "Revive the Qing and destroy the foreigners" ({{lang|zh|扶清滅洋}} {{Transliteration|zh|fu Qing mie yang}}).{{sfnp|Xiang|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lAxresT12ogC&pg=PA115 115]}}

The enemy was seen as foreign influence. They decided the "primary devils" were the Christian missionaries while the "secondary devils" were the Chinese converts to Christianity, which both had either to repent, be driven out or killed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Purcell |first=Victor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2MeUoD9G9xAC&pg=PA125 |title=The Boxer Uprising: A Background Study |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-14812-2 |page=125}}</ref>{{sfnp|Preston|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/boxerrebelliondr00dian/page/25 25]}}

=== Causes ===
[[File:China imperialism cartoon.jpg|thumb|left|A French political propaganda cartoon depicting China as a pie about to be carved up by [[Queen Victoria]] (United Kingdom), [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]] (Germany), [[Tsar Nicholas II]] (Russia), [[Marianne]] (France) and a samurai (Japan), while the Boxer leader [[Dong Fuxiang]] protests]]

The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-imperialist movement which sought to expel foreigners from China and end the system of [[Foreign concessions in China|foreign concessions]] and [[treaty ports]].{{sfnp|Hammond|2023|p=131}} The rebellion had multiple causes.{{sfnp|Driscoll|2020|p=211}} Escalating tensions caused Chinese to turn against "foreign devils" who engaged in the [[Scramble for China]] in the late 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bickers |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Bickers |title=The Scramble for China: Foreign Devils in the Qing Empire, 1832–1914 |publisher=Penguin |year=2011}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2024}} The Western success at controlling China, growing anti-imperialist sentiment, and extreme weather conditions sparked the movement. A drought followed by floods in Shandong province in 1897–98 forced farmers to flee to cities and seek food.{{sfnp|Thompson|2009|p=9}}

A major source of discontent in northern China was missionary activity. The Boxers opposed German missionaries in Shandong and in the German concession in [[Qingdao]].{{sfnp|Hammond|2023|p=131}} The [[Treaty of Tientsin]] and the [[Convention of Peking]], signed in 1860 after the [[Second Opium War]], had granted foreign missionaries the freedom to preach anywhere in China and to buy land on which to build churches.{{sfnp|Esherick|1987|p=77}} There was strong public indignation over the dispossession of Chinese temples that were replaced by Catholic churches which were viewed as deliberately anti-[[feng shui]].{{sfnp|Driscoll|2020|p=211}} A further cause of discontent among Chinese people were the destruction of Chinese burial sites to make way for German railroads and telegraph lines.{{sfnp|Driscoll|2020|p=211}} In response to Chinese protests against German railroads, Germans shot the protestors.{{sfnp|Schuman|2021|p=271}}

Economic conditions in Shandong also contributed to rebellion.{{sfnp|Schuman|2021|p=270}} Northern Shandong's economy focused significantly on cotton production and was hampered by the importation of foreign cotton.{{sfnp|Schuman|2021|p=270}} Traffic along the [[Grand Canal (China)|Grand Canal]] was also decreasing, further eroding the economy.{{sfnp|Schuman|2021|p=270}} The area had also experienced periods of drought and flood.{{sfnp|Schuman|2021|p=270}}

A major precipitating incident was anger at the German Catholic Priest Georg Stenz, who had allegedly serially raped Chinese women in Juye County, Shandong.{{sfnp|Driscoll|2020|p=211}} In an attack known as the [[Juye Incident]],  Chinese rebels attempted to kill Stenz in his missionary quarters,{{sfnp|Driscoll|2020|p=211}} but failed to find him and killed two other missionaries. The German Navy's [[East Asia Squadron]] dispatched to occupy [[Jiaozhou Bay]] on the southern coast of the Shandong peninsula.{{sfnp|Esherick|1987|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jVESdBSMasMC&pg=PA363 123]}}

In December 1897, Wilhelm [[German colonial empire#The empire under Kaiser Wilhelm (1890–1914)|declared his intent to seize territory in China]], which triggered a "scramble for [[concession (territory)|concessions]]" by which Britain, France, Russia and Japan also secured their own [[sphere of influence]] in China.{{sfnp|Esherick|1987|pp=129–130}} Germany gained exclusive control of developmental loans, mining, and railway ownership in Shandong province. Russia gained influence of all territory north of the [[Great Wall]],<ref name="Dallin2013" /> plus the previous tax exemption for trade in [[Mongolia]] and [[Xinjiang]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paine |first=S. C. M. |title=Imperial Rivals: China, Russia, and Their Disputed Frontier |publisher=M. E. Sharpe |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-56324-724-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/imperialrivalsch00pain/page/162 162] |chapter=Chinese Diplomacy in Disarray: The Treaty of Livadia |access-date=22 February 2018 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/imperialrivalsch00pain |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> economic powers similar to Germany's over [[Fengtian Province|Fengtian]], Jilin and [[Heilongjiang]]. France gained influence of [[Yunnan]], most of [[Guangxi]] and [[Guangdong]], Japan over [[Fujian]]. Britain gained influence of the whole [[Yangtze]] valley<ref name="LoUpshur2008" /> (defined as all provinces adjoining the Yangtze, as well as Henan and Zhejiang<ref name="Dallin2013">{{Cite book |last=Dallin |first=David J. |title=The Rise of Russia in Asia |publisher=Read Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4733-8257-2 |chapter=The Second Drive to the Pacific, Section Port Arthur}}</ref>), parts of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces and part of Tibet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tibet Justice Center – Legal Materials on Tibet – Treaties and Conventions Relating to Tibet – Convention Between Great Britain and Tibet (1904) [385] |url=https://www.tibetjustice.org/materials/treaties/treaties10.html |website=www.tibetjustice.org}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=October 2022}} Only Italy's request for Zhejiang was declined by the Chinese government.<ref name="LoUpshur2008">{{Cite book |last=Lo Jiu-Hwa |first=Upshur |title=Encyclopedia of World History, Ackerman-Schroeder-Terry-Hwa Lo, 2008: Encyclopedia of World History |publisher=Fact on File |year=2008 |volume=7 |pages=87–88}}</ref> These do not include the lease and concession territories where the foreign powers had full authority. The Russian government militarily occupied their zone, imposed their law and schools, seized mining and logging privileges, settled their citizens, and even established their municipal administration on several cities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shan |first=Patrick Fuliang |title=The Development of the North Manchuria Frontier, 1900–1931 |publisher=McMaster University |year=2003 |location=Hamilton, ON |page=13}}</ref>

In October 1898, a group of Boxers attacked the Christian community of Liyuantun village where a temple to the [[Jade Emperor]] had been converted into a Catholic church. Disputes had surrounded the church since 1869, when the temple had been granted to the Christian residents of the village. This incident marked the first time the Boxers used the slogan "Support the Qing, destroy the foreigners" ({{zhi|c=扶清滅洋|p=fu Qing mie yang}}) that later characterised them.{{sfnp|Esherick|1987|pp=143–144, 163}}

The Boxers called themselves the "Militia United in Righteousness" for the first time in October 1899, at the [[Battle of Senluo Temple]], a clash between Boxers and Qing government troops.{{sfnp|Esherick|1987|p=253}} By using the word "Militia" rather than "Boxers", they distanced themselves from forbidden martial arts sects and tried to give their movement the legitimacy of a group that defended orthodoxy.{{sfnp|Esherick|1987|p=32}}

Violence toward missionaries and Christians drew sharp responses from diplomats protecting their nationals, including Western seizure of harbors and forts and the moving in of troops in preparation for all-out war, as well as taking control of more land by force or by coerced long-term leases from the Qing.{{sfnp|Spence|2012|pp=222–223}} In 1899, the French minister in Beijing helped 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 Shandong, many Chinese feared that the foreign missionaries and possibly all Christian activities were imperialist attempts at "carving the melon", i.e., to colonise China piece by piece.{{sfnp|Esherick|1987|pp=68–95}} A Chinese official expressed the animosity towards foreigners succinctly, "Take away your missionaries and your opium and you will be welcome."{{sfnp|Thompson|2009|p=12}}

In 1899, the Boxer Rebellion developed into a mass movement.{{sfnp|Hammond|2023|p=131}} The previous year, the [[Hundred Days' Reform]], in which progressive Chinese reformers persuaded the [[Guangxu Emperor]] to engage in modernizing efforts, was suppressed by [[Empress Dowager Cixi]] and [[Yuan Shikai]].{{sfnp|Hammond|2023|pp=12–13}} The Qing political elite struggled with the question of how to retain its power.{{sfnp|Hammond|2023|p=13}} The Qing government came to view the Boxers as a means to help oppose foreign powers.{{sfnp|Hammond|2023|p=13}} The national crisis was widely perceived as caused by "foreign aggression" inside,{{sfnp|Cohen|1997|p=114}} even though afterwards a majority of Chinese were grateful for the actions of the alliance.<ref name="Liu2021">{{Cite book |last=Liu |first=Qikun |title=Ba guo lian jun nai zheng yi zhi shi |publisher=Shibao chuban |year=2021 |isbn=978-957-13-9199-1 |location=Taipei |trans-title=Eight-nation alliance |author-mask=Liu Qikun (劉淇昆) |language=zh}}</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2022}} The Qing government was corrupt, common people often faced extortions from government officials and the government offered no protection from the violent actions of the Boxers.<ref name="Liu2021" />