Editing Boxer Rebellion (section)

=== 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" />