The Boxer Rebellion

1889-1901

The Fists of Righteous Harmony

Andrea Asencio
B period
 The Boxers

The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists( 义和团 ), known

by foreigners as the Boxers, was a violent anti- imperialism anti-
Christian movement founded in Shandong, in the North province
of China.
Economic Causes for
Uprising
By 1900, the value of China's imports was four times that of
her exports. There were two effects:
a. First, China's industries and commerce were destroyed by the
inflow of cheap foreign goods like cotton clothes.
b. Secondly, as the Qing dynasty was poor it was forced to
increase taxes, which made the economic conditions of the
people even worse.
ii.. The traditional Grand Canal in North China lost its function of
transport after railways had been built. Consequently, many
workers, innkeepers and boatmen, who were left
unemployed, rushed into Shantung
Natural Influences for
Rebellion

There were many natural disasters in late 19th century

China:
a. The Yellow River flooded in 1898. Shantung was hard hit.
Hundreds of Shantung villages were badly affected.
b. Then, in 1900, there was a serious drought in most of
North China.
c. As it was believed that all these natural disasters were
caused by the presence of the foreigners, anti-foreign
feelings spread further.
“Overthrow the Qing, destroy the
foreigners”

Not only did the Boxers hate and fear the foreigners, they
also blamed the Qing dynasty for its weakness and
inefficiency.
Origin of the Boxers

These well-trained, athletic young men were called "Boxers"

due to the martial arts they practiced.
Boxers recruited local farmers and other workers made
desperate by disastrous floods and focused blame on both
Christian missionaries and Chinese Christians. Some Chinese
Christians were recent converts and some had been born into
the faith, but missionaries secured special protection for
them using the shelter of Extraterritoriality.
Empress Cixi decided to use the Boxers to expel Western
influences from China. During this time, the Boxers would be
weakened by Western forces.
Boxer forces in Tianjin
In June 1900, the Boxers, now joined by elements of the
Imperial army, attacked foreign compounds in the cities of
Tianjin and Beijing.
On 23 June 1900, the Boxer rebels started setting fire to an
area south of the British Legation, using it as a "frightening
tactic" to attack the defenders.
The Taiyuan Massacre

The Taiyuan Massacre was one of the most infamous attacks

of the Boxers.
Result of the Taiyuan
Massacre
The Taiyuan Massacre was the mass
killing of foreign Christian missionaries
and of local church members, including
children, from July 1900. 222 Chinese
Eastern Orthodox Christians were also
murdered, along with 182 Protestant
missionaries and 500 Chinese
Protestants known as the China Martyrs
of 1900. 48 Catholic missionaries and
18,000 Chinese Catholics were
murdered.
Allied Attack on
Capital

The defeat of the Boxers 1901

The Defeat of the
Boxers
After the attack of the legation at Beijing the
defeat of the boxers was imminent.
The defeat of the insurgents fell to an
international force eventually numbering 45,000
Japanese, United States’, Austro-Hungarian,
British, French, German, Italian, Russian and
anti-Boxer Chinese troops, which captured
Tianjin on July 14 and Beijing on August 14.
On February 1, 1901, the Chinese authorities
agreed to abolish the Boxer Society, and on 7
September signed the Peace Protocol of Peking
with the allied nations, officially ending the Boxer
Rebellion.
II. The import of arms and ammunition was stopped until 1903. The forts between
Taku and Peking were to be destroyed. Foreign troops were allowed to be stationed
at important points from Peking to the sea. The Foreign Legation district there was
enlarged and placed under the exclusive control of foreigners.
III. Many of the Boxers, government officials and Qing nobles responsible for the
Terms of the Boxer Protocol
Boxer Uprising were accordingly punished, including Prince Tuan and Yu hsien. Over
one hundred officials were tried and found guilty. Imperial edicts were issued to
forbid further anti-foreign activities and organizations in the future. The Civil Service
Examinations were suspended for 5 years in areas of Boxer disturbances as a
punishment to the pro-Boxer scholar gentry. Provincial officials were personally held
responsible for any anti-foreign incidents.
IV. China would apologize publicly for the Boxer killings. Missions of apology were to
be sent to Germany and Japan, as the ministers of the two countries had been
murdered by the Boxers.
V. Existing mining regulations in China were to be revised to the benefit of foreign
investors. China's customs houses were placed under foreign supervision.
The Boxer Protocol of
1901
Main Causes of Defeat
The Boxers were disorganized bandits. Many of them joined
the Boxer Movement not so much because they were
patriotic but because they were poor and hungry. They
claimed that bullets and fire-arms could not hurt them
because of their practice.
Quickly fell apart when they met foreign troops. They would
not defend the country; some of them did not even have the
intention of doing so.
Popular support for the Boxers was lacking throughout the
provinces. The provincial independence during the uprising
left the Boxers in Peking alone to fight foreign troops.