Boxer Rebellion: A History from Beginning to End (History of China), by Hourly History.

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BOXER REBELLION: A HISTORY 

FROM BEGINNING TO END 

(HISTORY OF CHINA), 

by 

HOURLY HISTORY. 

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Writing and compilation could have been better. 

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"In the twentieth-century saga of two investigative journalists reporting on the skullduggery of a presidential campaign, an anonymous source advised Washington Post to “follow the money” as they sought to unravel the Watergate scandal during Richard Nixon’s presidential term. For those who wish to unravel the roots of a different political headline, one which erupted in the year 1899 between China and the West, a more apt direction might be to “follow the opium.”

"The Boxer Rebellion began in 1899, but its roots went deeper into the fertile but rocky soil that harvested the lucrative commerce between the Empire of China, which for centuries had been the dominant country in Asia, and Great Britain, which by the middle of the nineteenth century had built an “empire on which the sun never sets.” Many of the Western powers were engaged in trade with a sometimes-reluctant China, but it was Great Britain, flexing its imperial muscle, which took center stage in the conflict.

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"Great Britain had been on the losing end of the trade with China, as the British and the Western world were ardent buyers of Chinese goods, but the Chinese did not reciprocate when British goods were offered for sale. The financial future of the British East India Company was at risk. Then the Portuguese discovered a highly potent form of opium in India, one that was much more powerful—and addicting—than what the Chinese used in their medicines. The poppy which produced this opium was grown in Bengal, which was under the control of the British."

But it wasn't that China was then guilty of unfair trade, as this author insinuates. British had little or nothing to offer to either India or China, and trade was in favor of the latter because they had far superior products. 

In case of India, too, British reversed it by physical force. Weavers of India who produced far superior material had their thumbs chopped off by British, to promote then far inferior goods from Manchester mills. This wasn't called war. 

In case of China, British only tried to force opium, and since they were refused entry, had a war perceived as such. 

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"The Chinese tried to legislate the problem by making opium use illegal, but smugglers managed to bring in the powerful substance and sell it anyway. The British would go to battle against the Chinese twice in efforts to force China to legalize the opium trade. William Gladstone, a future British prime minister, regarded the Opium Wars as a disgrace upon the British nation. Still, profit ruled over principle, and the Chinese eventually capitulated to the British. This led them to open up more ports to British trade and grant Britain most-favored-nation trade status as well as legalize the sale of opium, despite the harm it inflicted on the Chinese who were becoming addicted to it.

"The weakness of the Chinese military, combined with the fact that the Chinese government was powerless to keep the foreigners out of the Forbidden City, Beijing, was demoralizing for the Chinese, and the Qing Dynasty was held to blame. Resentment against foreigners mounted, and social unrest increased. Tensions between those in the government who saw advantages in encouraging trade with the West and those who recognized the threats to the Chinese way of life challenged the Qing Dynasty’s effectiveness and power. In the late 1890s, as northern China dealt with natural disasters which led to drought, depriving the citizens of employment and food, a group known as the Boxers arose.

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"The name “Boxer” probably came from the Christian missionaries in the area and referred to the Boxers’ emphasis on physical fitness and the martial arts. Yet the Yìhéquán, or the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, the Boxers’ official name, were about much more than shadow boxing. They were determined to purify China by ridding it of the Western foreigners whose influence was dominating the Chinese government and sullying their ancient and cherished traditions. They resolved to purge the country of the missionaries whose Christian beliefs diminished the long-held Confucian precepts which had formed the Middle Kingdom, as China called itself.

"When the Boxers left northern China and made their way to Beijing, the foreign legations established there realized their danger and called upon their nations’ armies to come to their rescue. The Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi, who had initially hesitated as the crisis mounted, subsequently declared war on all foreign powers. The Boxers united with the imperial Chinese forces against the Eight-Nation Alliance which was marching to Beijing to rescue the besieged legation officials, civilians, missionaries, and Chinese Christians who were trapped in the Forbidden City.

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"No one can be sure how many people were killed in the ensuing fighting; some estimates believe that as many as 100,000 lives were lost in the conflict. However, some casualties cannot be counted in terms of loss of life. For the Chinese, the victory of the Western powers was yet another blow to their traditions, their autonomy, and their image in the eyes of their neighboring nations. For the Qing Dynasty, it was the beginning of the end; in 1912, the child emperor Puyi abdicated, bringing to an end the 268-year reign of the Qing and imperial rule in China. China then became a republic under the presidency of Sun Yat-sen, bringing the nation out of its feudalistic history into the modern era. China’s tenure as a republic was brief, however, as the Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong took control of the country in 1949.

"When viewed against a timeline of 2,000 years of imperial rule, 30-some years as a republic, and over 70 years as a communist nation, the Boxer Rebellion might seem irrelevant. But the Boxer Rebellion spoke with the voice of a Chinese population that was weary of being subject to the whims of foreign powers. By striking against the Western powers, the Boxer Rebellion set the stage for a Chinese government that would follow its own course and, for good or ill, define a new way of life in a rapidly changing world. Twenty-first century China is an economic and political force not only in Asia but across the globe, and the role of the Boxer Rebellion in the restoration of China to a position of power must be acknowledged. Whether modern China exemplifies the model that the Boxers sought is, of course, open to debate."

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"“If you put together all the Christians in the world, with their Emperors and their Kings, the whole of these Christians—aye, and throw in the Saracens to boot—would not have such power, or be able to do so much as this Kublai, who is Lord of all the Tartars in the world.” 

"—Marco Polo"

But surely his brothers and cousins had rest of Asia and more, of territories conquered by their grandfather, divided between them for administrative purposes, and Kublai Khan was responsible only for China?

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"Trade with imperial China, which was already thriving in the East when the Roman Empire was coming to dominance in the West, was the stuff of legend early on in Chinese history, as the Silk Road brought merchants to Cathay, as China was then known. In the thirteenth century, Marco Polo, along with his merchant father and uncle, traveled to China, where they were received by Emperor Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan Dynasty.

"Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, was a Mongolian who did not speak Chinese and was mainly raised by his mother, a Nestorian Christian princess. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongols had conquered China. By the time Kublai Khan was emperor, the empire under his control reached from the Caspian Sea to the Korean peninsula. In 1271, Kublai Khan’s ambition was to unify China under his rule, which he named the Yuan Dynasty, and establish Beijing as the capital of the nation."

That's very incorrect. Most of Central Asia, and all of Tibet as its boundaries were before being swallowed by China, was in control of and administered by various other grandsons of the conqueror grandfather.

Tibet was still independent until Marco Polo went with Kublai Khan's emissaries following his military to conclude, post war, a treaty, which is the sole basis of China claiming Tibet. 

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"Even though China itself was actually a conquered territory under the control of the Mongols, the Chinese regarded everyone who was not Chinese as inferior. The Chinese were Huá; those outside China were Yi, or “barbarians” and “uncivilized.” Despite his identity as a foreigner, Polo was entrusted with diplomatic missions on the emperor’s behalf, traveling within China as well as to neighboring Asian regions. Polo reportedly stayed in China for 17 years, and upon his return to Europe, his accounts of the exotic East excited the imaginations—and the commercial interest—of Western explorers and monarchs, who learned from his writings of Chinese products such as paper money, gunpowder, coal, and porcelain.

"Under the Ming Dynasty, which ruled from 1368 to 1644, the emperor welcomed foreign envoys to Nanjing and Beijing but did not permit Chinese merchants to venture abroad in pursuit of private trade. The Chinese under the Ming era explored much of Asia while the Ming leaders limited but did not discourage trade with other nations."

Very confused paragraph there. 

What exploration exactly did get to take place, then, if Chinese traders weren't allowed to go for trade outside China? There are sizable Chinese populations in Southeast Asia right up to Malaysia, keeping themselves separate from natives, surely they were trading! 

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"After 1557, trade with other nations opened up. It was then that the Portuguese began to trade with the Chinese. China soon also started trading goods with the Spanish in exchange for silver mined from Spain’s New World colonies. So much silver currency was exchanged in China that the silver became a familiar sight and would, in time, become a bulwark of the Chinese economy.

"For the Western world, mercantile expansion was also a route to Christian evangelism, and Jesuit missionaries began to come to China under the Ming Dynasty. It was in fact the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci who translated the name of a Chinese philosopher, Kong Qiu, into Confucius. Working with a Chinese colleague who had been baptized, Ricci also translated Euclid’s Elements into Chinese. The cross-pollination of ideas followed the incursion into China made by commerce.

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"Although the Chinese emperor decided against expanding trade with Great Britain in 1793, trade between the West and East still played an active role in the commercial enterprises of Western nations. However, the Chinese did not need Western trade as much as the West needed trade with the Chinese. The Chinese operated outside the European sphere of influence and were capable of meeting the domestic needs of their own citizens, offering a high standard of living, independent innovation, and agricultural prowess. There was no need for the Chinese Empire to feel threatened or even influenced by Western demands. China remained focused upon its own world view, establishing policies which mitigated the expansion of Western power."

This author must be copying from official propaganda, even if second hand. The picture one gets, even from literature by those who loved China and revered everything thereof, is far from that assertion above. 

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"During the eighteenth century, the British, French, and Dutch were zealous in their efforts to maximize their trade networks in Asia, which made China’s Qing Dynasty a sought-after partner in their expanding markets. China had, for more than a millennium, been the Silk Road’s eastern destination, one which the British and Dutch East India Companies yearned to break into in order to increase the profits of their trading companies.

"However, the centuries would see a dynamic shift in the global influence which the West held over the East, and in the mid-nineteenth century, the British Empire was rapidly becoming the largest empire in history. The British, along with much of the world, continued to desire Chinese exports such as tea, silk, and porcelain. At this point, China’s boundaries upon Western trade, which included restricting European traders to the port of Canton, forbade the foreigners from learning Chinese and threatened punishment to any European who attempted to venture outside Canton in order to enter China. The Chinese were still able, despite Great Britain’s growing power, to define the borders of trade in the country.

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"Although Chinese goods were wildly popular in Europe, the Chinese did not reciprocate with an interest in the manufactured products of Europe. Instead of trading goods, the Qing Dynasty required payment in silver. This lopsided trading partnership left the British with a trade deficit; the British, lacking their own supply of silver, had to purchase the coveted metal either from Mexico or from those European nations who had silver mines in colonies they controlled.

"By this time, the British had become excessively fond of tea, and the nation was importing more than six tons of Chinese tea each year. The imbalance was so pronounced that in 50 years of trading with each other, the British sold £9 million worth of its manufactured goods to the Chinese while buying £27 million worth of Chinese products, paying for the difference in silver. The opium trade was about to shift the balance of trade in Great Britain’s favor.

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"The Chinese had been introduced to opium late in the sixth or early in the seventh century by Turkish and Arab traders. It was useful to relieve pain and tension in limited quantities. The importation of opium increased during the first century of the Qing Dynasty rule, which began in 1644. As the practice of smoking tobacco had spread from the New World, smoking opium became a common practice.

"As the eighteenth century dawned, the Portuguese began earning a great profit by importing Indian opium to sell in China. The path was paved for the British to do the same. The opium product was by now stronger than what the Chinese used in their medicines. In response, Emperor Yongzheng prohibited the sale and smoking of opium in 1729. However, addiction meant that the popularity of opium was undiminished, and the trade continued.

"The British depended upon the money received from opium revenues; for the British, the lucrative opium trade funded their own financial stability. By 1773, the British were the leading suppliers of opium to China. In India, the British East India Company’s monopoly on opium cultivation led to a method of growing poppies abundantly and at a cheaper cost. Once again, the Chinese emperor legislated against the importation of opium, and once again, the effort failed. The British had finally discovered an export which the Chinese wanted and could not do without; that it was a deadly drug debilitating a nation’s population mattered only to the Chinese."

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"“You do not wish opium to harm your own country, but you choose to bring that harm to other countries, such as China.” 

"—Lin Zexu"

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"It wasn’t long before Chinese traders were willing to accept opium as payment in exchange for goods, even though the transaction was illegal in China. The result led to alarming rates of addiction; some estimates claim that perhaps as many as 90% of the young men along the east coast of China were opium addicts by 1830. Operating by stealth, the British East India Company outsourced the opium to private traders it had licensed to transport the opium from India to China, selling it to smugglers along the coast of China. The traders gave the gold and silver they received for the opium to the British East India Company; the company then used the gold and silver to buy Chinese goods it could sell at a profit in the United Kingdom.

"The increase in opium sold to China was staggering; the Chinese purchased 1,000 chests of opium in 1767. Between 1820 and 1830, the sale increased to 10,000 chests a year. Each chest contained approximately 140 pounds of opium. By 1838, 40,000 chests per year were being imported into China, aided by corrupt Chinese officials who helped develop an effective network for distributing it.

"Opium addiction had infiltrated the empire’s military troops and officials as well as the lower classes. With the illegal opium trade, Great Britain was winning the trade war; the opium production and smuggling process now made up between 15 and 20 percent of the revenue of the British East India Company. To protect this monopoly on opium production, Great Britain annexed whole sections of the Indian subcontinent where the poppy grew."

Author fails to inform readers about the facts regarding the latter - how growing opium as whole fields, much less a large scale harvest, wasn't natural to India until enforced by British, and how it empoverished the farmers in India, resulting in bonded labour exported from British to their plantations throughout the empire. 

Why author refrains from mentioning this isn't clear. Colonial racism? Macaulay policy?

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"Meanwhile, China was losing the addiction war. Even though the Chinese had completely outlawed opium in 1796, its prevalence was felt throughout Chinese society, particularly in the cities on the coast. An imperial edict was issued, stating that opium was a poison undermining the morals and customs of China. The warning went unheeded. By 1839, an estimated 27% of Chinese males were opium addicts. The viceroy to the emperor, Lin Zexu, sent a letter to Queen Victoria, asking for her help and challenging the morality of her government’s actions. Citing the British ban on opium, Lin wrote, “You do not wish opium to harm your own country, but you choose to bring that harm to other countries such as China.”

"The British monarch did not reply to the letter. ... "

This unforgivable lapse makes any claim on her behalf - or on behalf of british in general, for that matter -regarding morals, or good governance, at best very questionable, and in reality exposed as no more than fraudulent propaganda. 

This is even more so of every possible church and in particular all missionaries, who did not protest any of this, much less vigorously so. 

" ... Driven to do something to ease the crisis, in the spring of 1839, Lin Zexu had the opium dealers arrested and confiscated 1,200 tons of opium and 70,000 opium pipes, destroying over 20,000 opium chests that had been stored in Canton warehouses by the British merchants. While some British ships were able to escape Canton, some of the traders had no choice but to surrender their opium, which was destroyed. The opium trade became an offense punishable by death."

Quite right. Well done. 

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"British influence—some would say control—over Chinese policies extended beyond trade. In July of that year, a Chinese villager was killed by two drunken British sailors. The British government refused to release the sailors to the Chinese to face the justice of the Chinese legal system. As a result, tensions between the two countries heightened."

Considering the recent behaviour by Europe in general and Vatican in particular regarding Italian sailors guilty of murder of infant fishermen in coastal waters of India, oneust say nothing is different as far as either racism or morals of Europe are concerned, or of church for that matter. Any claim therefrom to fairness, justice, humanity, morals et al is obviously fraudulent. 

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"The British had a military presence in the area, and Charles Elliot, the British Superintendent of Trade in China, commanded a fleet which were stationed outside the Canton harbor. After the Chinese authorities issued a statement requiring all foreign ships to sign a bond agreeing not to trade opium, Elliot countered by ordering a blockade preventing British ships from trading with the Chinese. In November 1939, the British fired warning shots when one British trading vessel, the Royal Saxon, ignored the blockade and attempted to sail into Canton port. The Chinese ships sailed out of the harbor to preserve order. Firing ensued, and the Chinese ships were disabled."

So any Brits attempting a moral and legal stance were assaulted by British institutions! 

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"Back in London, feelings ran high at the incident. Many British felt that the Chinese were violating free trade. The Whig government proposed going to war, a decision opposed by the Tories; their opposing motion was defeated by nine votes, revealing the controversial nature of the conflict. The British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, instructed the British military to engage the Chinese in a punitive expedition and to capture Hong Kong, which would serve the British as a trading site in the future."

Author misleads readers here in refraining from mention of actual state of affairs. Hong Kong wasn't a bustling port, much less of a city, then - but only an island or a bunch thereof, with few poor local fisher folk as residents. 

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"In June 1840, British troops and ships arrived in Hong Kong. The Royal Navy sailed up the Pearl River estuary, where they captured one port and blocked several others. Negotiations followed, but ultimately, diplomacy failed to resolve the conflict. In May 1841, the British attacked Canton and occupied it, but the fighting in other parts of China continued into the following year. British ships which were powered by steam were able to move against the wind and the tides, an ability which served them well when they attacked cities located further up the Pearl and Yangtze Rivers. There were also more guns on some of the British warships than the entire Chinese fleet could claim.

"After a vigorous counterattack by Chinese troops in the spring of 1842, the British managed to fight back against the offensive. British artillery bombardments led to the capture of Shanghai, and when the Royal Navy reached Nanjing, the Chinese were open to negotiations. The Chinese had lost as many as 20,000 soldiers, while the British only suffered a few hundred casualties, and many of those were caused by disease rather than fighting.

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"On August 29, the Treaty of Nanjing was signed aboard the HMS Cornwallis. The terms of the treaty were exceedingly advantageous to Great Britain. China had to cede Hong Kong to the British as well as increase the number of ports open to British trading and residence. Instead of only being allowed to live and trade in Canton, the British gained access to four more ports, including Shanghai. In addition, the British demanded compensation for the cost of the war and for the opium which had been destroyed. The total amount to be paid by China was $21 million, $6 million of which was to be paid immediately. 

"Furthering their triumph, the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, which was signed on October 8, 1843, ensured that if a British citizen were charged with a crime in China, they would be tried in a British court, not a Chinese one. The British also demanded most-favored-nation trading status. 

"Yet most devastating to the Chinese people and government was the British insistence that the opium trade had to be legalized. Addiction, it seemed, was required if the Chinese were to keep the British appeased."

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"“The opium trade produced a rationale for the Christian presence in China, turning the country into a depraved mass of opium sots to be disciplined and improved by salvation-hungry missionaries.” 

"—Julia Lovell"

Indeed! What else could they feed on if not poverty, disease, filth, depravity ... guilt? 

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"Advances in maritime exploration and trade in the mid-nineteenth century, combined with a dauntless conviction of the glorious destiny of white Christianity, emboldened the Western powers to press their advantages in order to expand trade with China. The British were in the vanguard of this movement, seeking for their empire the opening of the vastness of China to British merchants, the legalization of the opium trade, the installation of a British ambassador in Beijing, and exemption of imports from tariffs.

"These proposals were not supported by Emperor Xianfeng or his Qing government, by this time weary of constant concessions being demanded by the British government. Making matters worse was the Taiping Rebellion, which broke out against the government in 1850. The Taiping Rebellion possessed the alarming potential to undo the existing political and social structure of Chinese society, and the ability of the emperor to mount a solid defense against the invasion by the Westerners was compromised by this internal unrest.

"Understandably, the Treaty of Nanjing which awarded the British so much in terms of influence and future profits did nothing to soothe the exacerbated hostilities between Great Britain and China. Well aware of the possibilities that unrest within China could provide in terms of an advantage, the British were alert for ways to exploit the volatile situation for their own benefit.

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"On October 8, 1856, Chinese officials in Canton arrested 12 Chinese crewmen from the Arrow, a ship that was registered in Hong Kong which by then was under British control. According to reports, the Arrow had been flying the British flag at the time of the arrest before the Chinese officials tore the flag down. British diplomats sought redress and the release of the prisoners, but the Chinese, claiming that the Arrow was a pirate ship involved in smuggling, refused. In addition, the Chinese were reportedly offering a bounty of $100 on every British taken.

"As a result, a British warship bombarded Canton and destroyed forts outside the city. Trade came to a halt as the two sides were at an impasse. In December of that year, the Chinese set fire to foreign warehouses in Canton.

"Back home, British citizens were outraged at Prime Minister Palmerston’s handling of the Arrow incident, forcing a general election in 1857. As British nationalism surged, the Whig government gained a majority in Parliament and the public hungered for war against China. William Gladstone, who would one day serve as prime minister, was not swayed by the warlike fervor and regarded the first Opium War as “calculated in its progress to cover this country with permanent disgrace.” That a Second Opium War was in the offing only exacerbated the matter.

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"Like the Chinese, the British also had unrest to deal with, although their unrest was not back in Britain but in the colony of India. As the British were dealing with the election at home and the aftermath of the Arrow incident in China, members of the Bengal army rose up against the British in what became known as the Indian Rebellion. The uprising required the sending of more troops to India, so Great Britain called upon its allies—France, Russia, and the United States—for support. The Russians and the Americans merely sent envoys, but the French, still furious that the Chinese had executed a French missionary, joined the British forces.

"After the Indian Rebellion was put down, the British and French went to Hong Kong and, from there, to the Chinese forts south of Canton. Advancing north, the Western alliance engaged in a brief fight before taking Canton in late 1857. With Canton occupied by the military, the French and British headed north, and in May 1858, they captured the Taku Forts outside of Tianjin.

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"Still distracted by the Taiping Rebellion, which would continue until 1864, the Chinese government struggled to mount a consistent defense against the Western invaders. The Chinese government did not want to risk the outrage which allowing a foreign government to have a residence in the Chinese capital would ignite among the population. Because the Chinese felt themselves superior to the mercenary and intrusive Westerners, they could not allow Western standards to be absorbed into their own cultural model. If the Westerners lived in Beijing, that would indicate that they were equal to the Chinese, and this was not something the Chinese were prepared to concede.

"This loss of face would challenge the view that China was the center of human civilization, the Middle Kingdom. The West, with its burgeoning industry and vigorous trade, saw its maritime commerce as a sign of its power. But to the Chinese, the Westerners came because they needed Chinese goods; hence, it was the Western powers who were in need. As far back as 1793, Emperor Qianlong had written to King George III: “I set no value on objects strange and ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures.”

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"Suing for peace was the only option that seemed viable for the Chinese. A British retinue led by the Earl of Elgin came to sign the Treaty of Tianjin on June 26, 1858; a military band played music and the Royal Marines accompanied the British contingent. It was a hot summer day, with the temperatures reaching into the 90s Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), when the representatives of the two clashing cultures met.

"The Chinese presented their case, but in the end, Lord Elgin secured the right for British envoys to live in Beijing. Naturally, other Western powers arranged for a similar agreement. In addition, ten new Chinese ports were opened to trade, and foreigners were now allowed to travel into the interior of the Chinese mainland. Foreign missionaries of both the Catholic and Protestant faiths were permitted to evangelize, and opium could legally be imported and sold in China.

"However, the truce did not last long. The Chinese government resented the concessions made in the previous treaties, and Emperor Xianfeng was soon forced to accede to the government’s wishes by sending military forces under Mongol General Sengge Rinchen to reinforce the Taku Forts. When General Rinchen refused permission to allow foreign troops to escort the British ambassadors to their post in Beijing—he was amenable to allowing the ambassadors to land on Chinese soil but not to having an entourage of troops accompany them to Beijing—the fighting resumed.

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"After clearing obstacles from the Baihe River, the British Admiral Sir James Hope’s fleet bombarded the Taku Forts. However, the Chinese fought fiercely, leaving the British with no option but to withdraw with the assistance of the American Commodore Josiah Tattnall, violating U.S. neutrality in the process.

"The British and French had not expected such a vigorous and successful defense of the Taku Forts, and they were determined to prove victorious in their next endeavor. By the summer of 1860, the French and British boasted a military force of more than 17,000 soldiers and 173 ships. The British landed two miles from the Taku Forts on August 3, 1860; by August 21, the forts were in British hands.

"In September, General Rinchen, with 30,000 men, met the British at Baliqiao and launched frontal assaults against them. Not only were his efforts in vain, but his army was wiped out. With the British and French troops rapidly approaching Beijing, Emperor Xianfeng felt that he had no option but to sue for peace again. However, the negotiation was doomed after a British envoy and his delegation were arrested and tortured.

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"The French and British entered Beijing on October 6 as the emperor, with no military forces to protect him, escaped from Beijing, leaving Prince Gong behind to negotiate peace terms. Western retaliation was vicious. The French and British troops attacked the Old Summer Palace to liberate the Western prisoners who were held there. Chinese art was looted and taken home to Britain and France. Diplomats were able to dissuade Lord Elgin from burning Beijing to punish the Chinese for the kidnapping and torture of the prisoners; instead, he settled for burning the Old Summer Palace."

Very comparable with, and reminiscent of, the horror of destruction and havoc wreaked throughout the continent South of Panama, by Europeans. 

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"After Beijing was taken, the negotiations with the Western forces left the Chinese with few options. Prince Gong signed a new treaty, the Convention of Peking, on October 24, 1860. Kowloon, which had been leased in March 1860, was formally ceded to the British, and Tianjin was opened as a free port for foreigners. Religious freedom was permitted, and reparations were to be paid to France and Great Britain. In a separate treaty, the Russians acquired coastal land in the north of China; here, they would establish the port of Vladivostok as their reward for convincing the French and British to not burn down Beijing.

"The fact that a barbarian army had defeated the Chinese military led to a reassessment of the government on the part of the Chinese people. The Qing Dynasty’s standing in the eyes of the people was shattered: the emperor had fled from the fighting, casting doubt on the superiority of the Chinese and leading to questions about the effectiveness of the government. Wounded by the humiliation which China had endured and wary of the government’s acquiescence to foreign powers, ordinary Chinese citizens began questioning their obedience to an imperial court which seemed incapable of defending their honor.

"The concessions that China made in the Convention of Peking and the prior agreements, which would be known as the unequal treaties, demonstrated the weakness of China’s position. The truth was even worse than ordinary people could have imagined. Some modern economists have asserted that, until the Opium Wars, China had the world’s largest economy. By 1870, China’s share of global GDP had fallen by half, and China would be severely disadvantaged in its international relations and trade for decades. China had been beaten by the Yi, the barbarians."

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"“Take away your missionaries and your opium and you will be welcome.” 

"—Chinese official"

Very succinctly said, very astute. 

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"The triumph of the West in the Opium Wars and the concessions made in the unequal treaties were humbling for China, which for 2,000 years had been the unquestioned power in Asia. Now that the West had forced China to submit, the Western powers began to regard Chinese territory similar to the way in which they viewed their colonies.

"For the British, their region was the Pearl River Basin because of their control of Hong Kong. In addition, Shanghai had evolved into a vital commercial center for the British, and from there, they extended their dominance over the entire Yangtze River Basin. The French were dominant in Vietnam, so they regarded southern China’s Red River Basin as their sphere of influence. Russia’s imprint was pressed upon Manchuria. Germany, with the Shandong Province, sought to extend its authority along the Yellow River. The Chinese still maintained governments in these areas, but they no longer operated on their own authority. They had foreign officials to answer to, who were intent on keeping the regions obedient to Western aims.

"For the Qing Dynasty, which had reigned over China since 1644, the erosion of its power and sovereignty was ominous. Their authority over the people had overseen everything from language to rituals to religion and social customs. The Qing came from Manchuria, and they had preserved their identity as outsiders who had conquered China. But the control they could impose upon regions in the past had been changing as Asia was accommodating the intrusion of the West."

Notice the minimisation of what West did to Asia, by this author, in labelling it "intrusion". The said "intrusion" amounted, not only to loot of billions, but deaths of millions due directly to the said "intrusion" by West, quite apart from the deaths caused in course of the two world wars - which originated in, and due entirely to, West. 

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"The White Lotus Rebellion, which began in 1796, had challenged the Qing edict limiting agriculture in the northern regions, as crops like maize and potatoes from the New World changed farming. The West ushered in ways to irrigate farmland and use fertilizers to maximize harvest, practices which were different from what had been done in the past. The West also introduced new methods of treating infectious diseases like smallpox. While some of the Western innovations were positive, they represented a change from the methods and practices that were familiar to the Chinese, adding more resentment to what the population already felt.

"These advances led to a population boom; in 1749, the population of China was roughly 178 million. By 1851, the Qing Dynasty ruled over 432 million people. Overcrowding in some areas led to Chinese people moving to other parts of China, and with movement came new ideas and new conflicts, including rebellions. The Qing Dynasty had been able to defeat the White Lotus Rebellion but not to wipe out its goals, which remained the overthrow of the dynasty. The following decades, which witnessed more encroachment by the West, gave rise to increasing frustration for the Chinese.

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"After the Second Opium War, the British demand for reparations enriched Great Britain with millions of pounds of silver, weakening China’s economy as well as its image. The Qing Dynasty came belatedly to the realization that in order to restore its power in the region and its image within, it had to modernize. Beginning in 1861, China underwent what was called the Self-Strengthening or Westernization Movement, which implemented institutional reforms.

"Prince Gong, who had negotiated the Convention of Peking treaty after the flight of the emperor, was made the head of the Zongli Yamen, which functioned in the manner of a foreign ministry. Private militias in the Western model were formed to fight the Taiping rebels, and the overall intention of the movement was to import Western science and military technology into Chinese schools, arsenals, and munitions factories.

"The provincial officials were successful in constructing railways and innovating shipping and telegraph communication, resulting in the modernization of Chinese heavy industry and its military. The Self-Strengthening Movement focused on economic and military upgrading, not social reform. These innovations saved the Qing Dynasty from collapse in the short term. Unfortunately for the future of the Qing, however, its demise was merely a matter of time. The seemingly endless succession of wars and conflicts was corrosive to the Qing Dynasty’s ability to maintain order and stability in a nation weary of fighting and losing.

................................................................................................

"In 1894, the two Asian empires—China’s Qing Dynasty and the Empire of Japan—fought over which nation would prevail in having influence in Korea. The Japanese army and navy triumphed, resulting in the Chinese loss of the port of Weihaiwei. In February 1895, the Chinese government sought peace terms. Japan capitalized on China’s weakness, taking Taiwan and controlling Korea which had formerly been a tributary of the Chinese. By 1895, Japan was also empowered to insist on advantageous trade demands in the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

"Despite the improvements brought about by the Self-Strengthening Movement, the Qing Dynasty had demonstrated that it was unable to defend its borders from the aggression of its powerful neighbor Japan. As a result, Japan was now the dominant power in East Asia, a crushing blow to Qing prestige. Stricken by the loss of Korea as a tributary state, the public was not silent.

................................................................................................

"The end of the Qing Dynasty was nearing, a fall which would be precipitated by yet another uprising, this one in northern China. It was inspired by Chinese resentment at the continued encroachment of the influence of Westerners and the Japanese in the region. Young men in local villages, some only teenagers, found the call to arms to be a welcome substitute for the unemployment and lack of opportunity which plagued their communities. The uprising, called the Boxer Rebellion, would come to have a much greater influence over twentieth-century China than the two years of its span would seem to indicate. 

"Behind the Boxer Rebellion lay capitulation to foreign powers. Ahead of it was the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the rise of the Chinese republic, the rise of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution, and the foundations of what would lead to the evolution of modern China as a pivotal player on the world’s economic and political stage."

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"“The Boxer is a patriot. He loves his country better than he does the countries of other people. I wish him success.” 

"—Mark Twain"

More moral, Mark Twain, than all the Western governments put together, not to mention traders and shipping lines involved in pushing opium into China.

................................................................................................

"In the late early nineteenth century, another group, the Eight Trigrams Society, had formed with the objective of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and getting rid of the intrusive Westerners who seemed to be taking over China. Although the Eight Trigrams uprising failed, those sentiments would take root in other disaffected members of the Chinese population.

"The northern region of China, in the coastal Shandong province of China, was a region beset by famine and flooding and known for its religious groups, social unease, and lack of economic opportunity. From 1897 to 1898, a drought that came after flooding drove farmers to the cities in need of food. When these natural conditions were combined with resentment against foreign powers holding such unbalanced influence over China, an assortment of fervent young men formed a secret society as a way of redressing the wrongs done to their people. The adverse effects of prolonged extreme weather and the mounting hostility toward the imperial court were catalyzed by the further expansion encroachment of the Western colonization efforts.

"The young men of the region were hungry for more than food. Following the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin and the Convention of Peking, foreign missionaries were permitted to preach the Christian doctrine in China and to purchase Chinese land for the building of churches. Their evangelism fueled the resentment which the villagers felt against foreigners.

................................................................................................

"Thus, the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, or the Boxer movement, was formed late in the 1890s. Frustrated at feeling helpless and impoverished while foreigners exploited their country, the members of the group, mostly peasants, employed physical fitness to build up their strength. Believing that they were immune to bullets and invincible to attack, the group used calisthenics and martial arts. Their practices included prostration and the chanting of incantations to gods. They armed themselves with swords and rifles, confident that their spiritual powers would protect them from the weapons of the West. As they moved forward on their quest to rid China of the foreigners, they believed that the heavens would open up to send millions of soldiers to assist them in their righteous quest.

"Angry at the presence of foreigners and missionaries who were, they felt, subverting Chinese beliefs with Christian evangelism, the Boxers started to attack foreigners as well as Chinese Christians. Christian missionaries, passionate with the zeal to spread their beliefs, were often insensitive to Chinese customs. The foreign missionaries put pressure on community officials so that Chinese converts to Christianity would have special favors in lawsuits and disagreements over property.

"As the Boxers became more united in their cause and began to attract more members who agreed with their goals, they started to act upon their purpose. In October 1898, they attacked a Christian community where a former temple to the Jade Emperor had been turned into a Catholic place of worship. The site of the church had been a source of controversy since 1869 between the Chinese and the Christians who lived there, and the attack was a precursor of more to come. A year later, the Boxers clashed with troops from the Qing government at the Battle of Senluo Temple.

................................................................................................

"Coinciding with the rise of the Boxer movement was the Hundred Days Reform. During that time, Protestant missionaries had gotten the support of some Chinese government officials to convince the Qing government to bring about reforms. However, Empress Dowager Cixi, responding to the opposition of the more conservative officials in the government, canceled the reforms. This caused greater dissension between the factions, making the Qing Dynasty even more vulnerable. The empress dowager grabbed the reins of power and had the emperor placed under house arrest in order to wrest control of the government.

"As the dissension grew stronger, members of the Chinese government who agreed with the Boxers on the desire to rid China of its foreign presence were able to persuade the group to relinquish their intentions to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Together, the Boxers and the conservative forces in the government would join together to liberate China from foreign influence. By January of 1900, the imperial court of Empress Dowager Cixi was heavily influenced by a majority of conservative officials, and this led the empress to voice support for the Boxers too. Her decision spawned protests from the foreign representatives in China.

"Spring of 1900 saw the movement’s expansion from Shandong to the outskirts of Beijing, where the Boxers targeted Christian places of worship as well as Chinese converts to Christianity. When German soldiers in Beijing captured a Boxer youth and executed him, the Boxers retaliated, and thousands entered Beijing to burn not only many of the Christian places of worship in the city but also burning people alive as well. As soldiers protecting the legations fired back upon the Boxers, the Chinese who lived in the city felt animosity toward the foreigners, and some sought revenge by killing Chinese Christians in the city.

................................................................................................

"Increasingly concerned, the foreign diplomats in China requested permission from the Chinese government to ask foreign troops to enter Beijing to provide defense for the foreign legations who were now vulnerable. After the Chinese government gave its reluctant consent, a force of 435 naval troops from the Eight-Nation Alliance (Britain, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, the U.S., Italy, and Austria-Hungary) was on its way to Beijing. However, the Boxers had severed the railway line from Tianjin, which meant that Beijing was now cut off.

"The imperial court was sending mixed messages regarding its intentions. On June 13, the empress dowager directed her forces to prevent the foreign soldiers from advancing, forcing the troops to turn back. Recognizing the dilemma that China faced—support of the Boxers versus the wrath of the Western powers—the empress dowager addressed the issues to her imperial court. Support for the Boxers ran high in the countryside; attempts to suppress that support at a time when foreign troops were actively engaged within Beijing would be difficult. The anti-foreigner faction believed that the Qing government ought to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Boxers and kick out the foreigners and their divisive influence. Opposing that view were those in the court who derided the Boxers as ignorant peasants who were an obstacle to achieving an agreement with the governments of the other Western countries.

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"In any case, the spread of the violence brought in more foreign troops and sailors under the command of the British. Vice-Admiral Edward Seymour decided they needed to repair the severed railway line or travel on foot in order to get to Beijing. His resolve in doing so, and the advance of the troops, incited further anger in the imperial court. A prince of the Manchus, who supported the Boxer movement, became the new leader of the Chinese foreign office and ordered the imperial army to strike against Seymour’s forces headed toward Beijing.

"However, the orders were not clear, and initially, the Chinese did not prevent the British advance by train. Seymour’s forces managed to reach Langfang, but while there, as the engineers worked to repair the damaged railway line, the soldiers were surrounded both by government troops and Chinese irregulars. The Chinese forces were victorious over Seymour on June 18 at the Battle of Langfang, forcing the Europeans to retreat under fire. The Europeans, having expected an easy victory over the Chinese, had neglected to bring along sufficient artillery. The Chinese had not been so lax and their bombardment was effective, as were their sniper actions, ambushes, and pincer movements against the invaders.

................................................................................................

"The British-led forces loaded their wounded and supplies onto civilian ships commandeered from the Chinese. Food, ammunition, and medical supplies were in short supply when the foreign forces fortuitously discovered a concealed arsenal with rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, and field guns. The supply also included rice and medical supplies.

"The British-led forces, now well supplied, waited to be rescued. A servant infiltrated the Chinese lines and reached the Eight Powers to alert them to the plight of Seymour’s troops, who by this time were nearly at the point of being overwhelmed. A regiment of multinational troops was sent, and after setting fire to the munitions they could not take with them, Seymour’s force was rescued.

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"Communication between Tianjin and Beijing had meanwhile broken down, and the foreign nations decided it was time to make their military presence felt. On June 17, the Alliance captured the Taku Forts, which controlled the approach to Tianjin as part of the tactical effort to open access to Beijing. Troops in ever-increasing numbers landed on the shore.

"The military alliance issued a demand to the Chinese empress dowager: surrender control over the Chinese military and financial matters to the foreign powers. Empress Dowager Cixi responded to her grand council, “Now they have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why don’t we fight to the death?”

"The empress dowager ordered the expulsion of all foreign diplomats from Beijing on June 18. The subsequent murder of a German government official made it clear that the lives of the foreigners were in mortal danger, and they, along with hundreds of Chinese converts to Christianity, found themselves under siege in the Legation Quarter and the Roman Catholic cathedral in Beijing."

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"“Support the Qing, destroy the foreigners.” 

"—Boxer slogan"

Wonder if the European term 'king' is a derivative of the Chinese 'Qing'.

................................................................................................

"When Empress Dowager Cixi learned that the Taku Forts had been attacked, she gave orders that all foreigners were to leave Beijing within 24 hours. By this point, the foreign legations in Beijing were already under siege by the Peking Field Force. The diplomats doubted that the Chinese army, which Empress Dowager Cixi said would escort them out of the city, could be trusted with their safety, and they refused to obey the imperial command. As they fortified their legations, they offered sanctuary to the Christian missionaries who were in the city.

"There were 473 civilians, 409 military men, and approximately 3,000 Chinese Christians seeking the protection of the legation. Their defense consisted of small arms, three machine guns, and an old muzzle-loaded cannon. Lack of food soon began to weaken the besieged occupants, and casualties resulted from mines which had been placed in tunnels dug beneath the compound.

"On June 21, the empress dowager declared war against all the foreign powers. However, the regional Chinese governors, who commanded fighting forces in Canton, Shandong, Wuhan, and Nanjing, refused to take part in the hostilities. They prevented the declaration of war from being publicized to the public in the south. By remaining neutral, these governors, called the Mutual Protection of Southeast China, kept most of the Chinese people from becoming involved in the fighting."

China must blame them for defeat of China against West, and not Asian soldiers who were employed in Western forces due to colonial regimes having reduced them to seeking employment, even at cost of risking life. 

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"However, neutrality was relative; for example, Governor Zhang of Wuhan entered into negotiations with the foreign powers, while Governor Yuan used his troops to put down the Boxers in Shandong. These actions, although insubordinate in terms of their response to imperial authority, created the impression that the Boxer Rebellion was a local disturbance confined to the northern region of Shandong, which was false.

"Meanwhile, in the Legation Quarter, the representatives of the Eight-Nation Alliance struggled to survive under siege by the Chinese Army and the Boxers. After a failed attempt to force the foreigners out by setting fire to areas around the British Legation, the Chinese forces constructed barricades surrounding the Quarter and steadily pushing the Legation guards back incrementally. Yet despite the attacks of artillery and firecrackers, the damage to the Legation Quarter was minimal. Chinese Christians did the majority of the work in fortifying the defenses of the structures for the besieged Legation Quarter.

"Facing the threat of a Chinese advance upon its crucial defensive position at the Tartar Wall, the Americans opted for an attack on July 3. British, American, and Russian marines and sailors caught the Chinese by surprise with the early morning assault, killing some and driving away the rest. However, ten days later, on July 13, things looked bleak for the legations as the Japanese and Italians in the Fu, the Roman Catholic place of worship, were driven back to their final line of defense. On the same day, a mine under the French Legation was detonated by the Chinese, forcing the occupants out.

................................................................................................

"On July 17, the American minister contacted the Chinese government for an armistice, as over 40% of the foreign guards had been either killed or wounded. A force of 20,000 Western soldiers had now landed in China, and the Qing government realized that despite their victories over the occupants of the Legation, a larger force would be harder to overcome.

"The Eight-Nation Alliance had by this point captured Tianjin. From Tianjin, the 20,000 troops of the international force advanced toward Beijing, encountering minimal resistance from the Chinese, despite the fact that they had 70,000 imperial troops and at least 50,000 Boxer troops. However, more devastating than enemy fire was the hot, humid weather, which reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) in August. When the Allied forces sought wells to stave off dehydration for themselves and to give water to their horses, they were met by hostile Chinese villagers.

"Eyewitness accounts reported that both the Western and the Chinese forces were guilty of committing hideous atrocities during the conflict: women were raped, civilians were beheaded and bayoneted, soldiers’ bodies were mutilated as the Western soldiers fought their way to Beijing. They reached the Forbidden City on August 14, where they encountered Chinese forces trained in Western combat techniques and equipped with modern weapons. Although the Chinese troops had retreated during the battle for Tianjin, they put up a strong resistance during the fighting. However, their efforts were not enough to halt the advance of the 20,000-man force intent on rescuing the besieged captives inside Beijing.

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"Arriving at the Legation Quarter, the international force relieved the troops that had been defending the legations. Realizing that her military had been defeated, the empress dowager and her retinue fled from Beijing in ox carts, the empress dressed as a farmworker. They found safety in Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, where the mountainous terrain kept them out of reach of the invaders.

"Although her advisors urged her to continue the fighting, the empress dowager, after being assured that she would be allowed to retain her title and authority and that China would not have to surrender any of its land, decided to accept the terms presented by the international force. Still, China would not escape punitive terms entirely; the defeated nation was ordered to pay $330 million in war reparations. The Qing government signed the peace treaty, known as the Boxer Protocol, on September 7, 1901. As part of the treaty, ten members of high rank in the imperial court were executed for their part in supporting the Boxer Rebellion. Other government officials who were found guilty of killing foreigners were also executed.

"The reforms which the empress dowager had previously resisted were now implemented. Beginning in 1901, the existing Chinese educational system was replaced with a European format that issued university degrees. Some students, including Sun Yat-sen who would go on to found the Chinese Nationalist Party and head the Chinese Republic after the fall of the monarchy, chose to be educated in Japan. The central bureaucracy was simplified. Taxation policies were revamped. New military and police organizations were formed.

................................................................................................

"With the reforms came a weakening of the dynasty. Within the governing structure, there was ideological tension between the northern Chinese, who supported the Qing Dynasty and opposed the foreigners, and the southern Chinese, who sought the downfall of the Qing Dynasty. Inevitably, a weakened government could not offer a strong national defense and the waning years of the Qing rule saw northern warlords positioned against the revolutionaries of southern China. The bitter rivalry for power between the two factions would not be solved entirely until the Chinese Nationalist Party, joining with the Chinese Communist Party, launched an expedition in 1926 to defeat the northern warlords.

"Beijing and Tianjin, along with other cities in the northern region of China where the Boxer Rebellion had begun, were occupied by the international forces for over a year. The foreign troops were guilty of committing atrocities against the Chinese people during the occupation; women were raped, villages were burned, and property was seized. The British held “loot auctions” every afternoon of the week except on Sundays, and valuable items stolen from China found their way to Europe.

................................................................................................

"Retaliation against the Chinese was rife, and even some Christian missionaries sought revenge despite the precepts of Christianity which preached forgiveness. A foreign journalist wrote of the carnage, “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.”

"Accurate numbers of the casualties from the Boxer Rebellion are difficult to obtain. Most of the 100,000 deaths were civilians, with merely an estimated 3,000 military men killed in the fighting. More than 30,000 Chinese Catholics and 2,000 Chinese Protestants were killed during the Boxer Rebellion, paying the price for what was seen as their betrayal of their Chinese religious heritage. Clergy of multiple Christian denominations lost their lives, including members of the Russian Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic churches."

So "Most of the 100,000 deaths were civilians" is about Chinese killed by West. 

"Ultimately, the Boxer Rebellion enlightened the Western powers, teaching them that their efforts to make China a colony were futile. It had taken the uprising of the Boxers to prove that the West needed to work with the Chinese imperial court and the government in order to have an effective partnership. But while the West was willing to reduce its influence over China, the Empire of Japan saw an opportunity to expand its sphere of influence in Asia, becoming the new dominant power in the region."

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"“Suppose . . . the great nations of Europe were to put their fleets together, came over here, seize Portland, move on down to Boston, then New York, then Philadelphia, and so on down the Atlantic Coast and around the Gulf of Galveston? Suppose they took possession of these port cities, drove our people into the hinterland, built great warehouses and factories, brought in a body of dissolute agents, and calmly notified our people that henceforward they would manage the commerce of the country? Would we not have a Boxer movement to drive those foreign European Christian devils out of our country?” 

"—Rev. Dr. George F. Pentecost"

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"Were the Boxers insular, unsophisticated peasants fighting against Western culture and religion, or were they freedom fighters committed to preserving the Chinese way of life? Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China which would succeed the Qing Dynasty, credited the Boxers for their resistance but still referred to them as bandits; the Boxers were not from the elite ranks of Chinese society, and perceptions may have been tinged by the view that they were uncouth members of the lower classes. Still, after the Qing Dynasty fell, which happened in 1911, national assessment of the Boxers became more favorable.

"Sun Yat-sen later commended the Boxers’ bravery in taking on the military might of the Western powers. In fact, their actions—violent and even barbaric though they seemed to others—were in many ways matched by the actions of the Western nations. There were even people in the West who acknowledged the fact that the Boxers were just in their motives to defend their country against Western arrogance. It was a time when bigotry toward Asians was tolerated often without restraint. Some people, including some theologians, remarked that the behavior of the Christian powers toward the Chinese had displayed no Christ-like attributes."

When did any "behavior of the Christian powers toward" anyone, with exception of Germans post WWII, display any "Christ-like attributes"? Towards Indians or any other Asians, Africans, or natives of "New World" whether East of Pacific Ocean or West? The very epithet "New World", for that matter, denies human status to natives of that "New World"! 

................................................................................................

"On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Revolution, introduced the People’s Republic of China onto the world political stage. Now, the Boxers were honored rather than disdained for their peasant origins and their forthright stance against Western imperialism. After the death of Mao Zedong, as Chinese historians reassessed the impact of the Cultural Revolution, the violent extremes to which the Boxers resorted were critically redefined, just as China itself was undergoing a redefinition of its national identity.

"The twenty-first century has seen the rise of Chinese economic might, a modern-day recreation of its Silk Road hegemony when the markets of Asia were sought after by the West. Yet today’s China has not ceded supremacy to those foreign markets; now, when Western companies seek to enter the Chinese market, they must cooperate with the Chinese government.

................................................................................................

"Other aspects have changed as well since the Boxer Rebellion was crushed. Hong Kong, which was ceded to the British under the treaty terms, is now under Chinese rule again. Hong Kong’s independence was intended to be honored under the “One Country, Two Systems” philosophy of governing, but as China sought to impress its authority upon the island, Hong Kong has become the setting for protests against what is perceived as an overbearing authoritarian rule which fails to respect its unique identity. The volatile situation continues to stir alarm, with diplomats and journalists wondering to what extent China will go to rein in its defiant prodigal child.

"China is always aware of the suffering it endured at the hands of the West, even now when the nation is an equal to those nations which once exploited it. The ruins of the Summer Palace which was burned down as the Western powers invaded Beijing after the Boxers besieged the Forbidden City remain today, a reminder of what happened when China was at the mercy of invaders. Generations later, the Chinese remember their humiliation at the hands of the West. Chinese President Xi Jinping referred to it in 2017, saying, “That page of Chinese history was one of humiliation and sorrow.”"

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Table of Contents 

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Introduction 

Trade with the Mighty Middle Kingdom 

The First Opium War 

The Second Opium War 

The Self-Strengthening Movement 

Rise of the Boxers 

The Fight for Beijing 

The Legacy of the Boxer Rebellion 

Bibliography

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REVIEW 

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Introduction 

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"In the twentieth-century saga of two investigative journalists reporting on the skullduggery of a presidential campaign, an anonymous source advised Washington Post to “follow the money” as they sought to unravel the Watergate scandal during Richard Nixon’s presidential term. For those who wish to unravel the roots of a different political headline, one which erupted in the year 1899 between China and the West, a more apt direction might be to “follow the opium.”

"The Boxer Rebellion began in 1899, but its roots went deeper into the fertile but rocky soil that harvested the lucrative commerce between the Empire of China, which for centuries had been the dominant country in Asia, and Great Britain, which by the middle of the nineteenth century had built an “empire on which the sun never sets.” Many of the Western powers were engaged in trade with a sometimes-reluctant China, but it was Great Britain, flexing its imperial muscle, which took center stage in the conflict.

................................................................................................

"Great Britain had been on the losing end of the trade with China, as the British and the Western world were ardent buyers of Chinese goods, but the Chinese did not reciprocate when British goods were offered for sale. The financial future of the British East India Company was at risk. Then the Portuguese discovered a highly potent form of opium in India, one that was much more powerful—and addicting—than what the Chinese used in their medicines. The poppy which produced this opium was grown in Bengal, which was under the control of the British."

But it wasn't that China was then guilty of unfair trade, as this author insinuates. British had little or nothing to offer to either India or China, and trade was in favor of the latter because they had far superior products. 

In case of India, too, British reversed it by physical force. Weavers of India who produced far superior material had their thumbs chopped off by British, to promote then far inferior goods from Manchester mills. This wasn't called war. 

In case of China, British only tried to force opium, and since they were refused entry, had a war perceived as such. 

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"The Chinese tried to legislate the problem by making opium use illegal, but smugglers managed to bring in the powerful substance and sell it anyway. The British would go to battle against the Chinese twice in efforts to force China to legalize the opium trade. William Gladstone, a future British prime minister, regarded the Opium Wars as a disgrace upon the British nation. Still, profit ruled over principle, and the Chinese eventually capitulated to the British. This led them to open up more ports to British trade and grant Britain most-favored-nation trade status as well as legalize the sale of opium, despite the harm it inflicted on the Chinese who were becoming addicted to it.

"The weakness of the Chinese military, combined with the fact that the Chinese government was powerless to keep the foreigners out of the Forbidden City, Beijing, was demoralizing for the Chinese, and the Qing Dynasty was held to blame. Resentment against foreigners mounted, and social unrest increased. Tensions between those in the government who saw advantages in encouraging trade with the West and those who recognized the threats to the Chinese way of life challenged the Qing Dynasty’s effectiveness and power. In the late 1890s, as northern China dealt with natural disasters which led to drought, depriving the citizens of employment and food, a group known as the Boxers arose.

................................................................................................

"The name “Boxer” probably came from the Christian missionaries in the area and referred to the Boxers’ emphasis on physical fitness and the martial arts. Yet the Yìhéquán, or the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, the Boxers’ official name, were about much more than shadow boxing. They were determined to purify China by ridding it of the Western foreigners whose influence was dominating the Chinese government and sullying their ancient and cherished traditions. They resolved to purge the country of the missionaries whose Christian beliefs diminished the long-held Confucian precepts which had formed the Middle Kingdom, as China called itself.

"When the Boxers left northern China and made their way to Beijing, the foreign legations established there realized their danger and called upon their nations’ armies to come to their rescue. The Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi, who had initially hesitated as the crisis mounted, subsequently declared war on all foreign powers. The Boxers united with the imperial Chinese forces against the Eight-Nation Alliance which was marching to Beijing to rescue the besieged legation officials, civilians, missionaries, and Chinese Christians who were trapped in the Forbidden City.

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"No one can be sure how many people were killed in the ensuing fighting; some estimates believe that as many as 100,000 lives were lost in the conflict. However, some casualties cannot be counted in terms of loss of life. For the Chinese, the victory of the Western powers was yet another blow to their traditions, their autonomy, and their image in the eyes of their neighboring nations. For the Qing Dynasty, it was the beginning of the end; in 1912, the child emperor Puyi abdicated, bringing to an end the 268-year reign of the Qing and imperial rule in China. China then became a republic under the presidency of Sun Yat-sen, bringing the nation out of its feudalistic history into the modern era. China’s tenure as a republic was brief, however, as the Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong took control of the country in 1949.

"When viewed against a timeline of 2,000 years of imperial rule, 30-some years as a republic, and over 70 years as a communist nation, the Boxer Rebellion might seem irrelevant. But the Boxer Rebellion spoke with the voice of a Chinese population that was weary of being subject to the whims of foreign powers. By striking against the Western powers, the Boxer Rebellion set the stage for a Chinese government that would follow its own course and, for good or ill, define a new way of life in a rapidly changing world. Twenty-first century China is an economic and political force not only in Asia but across the globe, and the role of the Boxer Rebellion in the restoration of China to a position of power must be acknowledged. Whether modern China exemplifies the model that the Boxers sought is, of course, open to debate."

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December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

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Chapter 1. Trade with the Mighty Middle Kingdom 

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"“If you put together all the Christians in the world, with their Emperors and their Kings, the whole of these Christians—aye, and throw in the Saracens to boot—would not have such power, or be able to do so much as this Kublai, who is Lord of all the Tartars in the world.” 

"—Marco Polo"

But surely his brothers and cousins had rest of Asia and more, of territories conquered by their grandfather, divided between them for administrative purposes, and Kublai Khan was responsible only for China?

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"Trade with imperial China, which was already thriving in the East when the Roman Empire was coming to dominance in the West, was the stuff of legend early on in Chinese history, as the Silk Road brought merchants to Cathay, as China was then known. In the thirteenth century, Marco Polo, along with his merchant father and uncle, traveled to China, where they were received by Emperor Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan Dynasty.

"Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, was a Mongolian who did not speak Chinese and was mainly raised by his mother, a Nestorian Christian princess. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongols had conquered China. By the time Kublai Khan was emperor, the empire under his control reached from the Caspian Sea to the Korean peninsula. In 1271, Kublai Khan’s ambition was to unify China under his rule, which he named the Yuan Dynasty, and establish Beijing as the capital of the nation."

That's very incorrect. Most of Central Asia, and all of Tibet as its boundaries were before being swallowed by China, was in control of and administered by various other grandsons of the conqueror grandfather.

Tibet was still independent until Marco Polo went with Kublai Khan's emissaries following his military to conclude, post war, a treaty, which is the sole basis of China claiming Tibet. 

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"Even though China itself was actually a conquered territory under the control of the Mongols, the Chinese regarded everyone who was not Chinese as inferior. The Chinese were Huá; those outside China were Yi, or “barbarians” and “uncivilized.” Despite his identity as a foreigner, Polo was entrusted with diplomatic missions on the emperor’s behalf, traveling within China as well as to neighboring Asian regions. Polo reportedly stayed in China for 17 years, and upon his return to Europe, his accounts of the exotic East excited the imaginations—and the commercial interest—of Western explorers and monarchs, who learned from his writings of Chinese products such as paper money, gunpowder, coal, and porcelain.

"Under the Ming Dynasty, which ruled from 1368 to 1644, the emperor welcomed foreign envoys to Nanjing and Beijing but did not permit Chinese merchants to venture abroad in pursuit of private trade. The Chinese under the Ming era explored much of Asia while the Ming leaders limited but did not discourage trade with other nations."

Very confused paragraph there. 

What exploration exactly did get to take place, then, if Chinese traders weren't allowed to go for trade outside China? There are sizable Chinese populations in Southeast Asia right up to Malaysia, keeping themselves separate from natives, surely they were trading! 

................................................................................................

"After 1557, trade with other nations opened up. It was then that the Portuguese began to trade with the Chinese. China soon also started trading goods with the Spanish in exchange for silver mined from Spain’s New World colonies. So much silver currency was exchanged in China that the silver became a familiar sight and would, in time, become a bulwark of the Chinese economy.

"For the Western world, mercantile expansion was also a route to Christian evangelism, and Jesuit missionaries began to come to China under the Ming Dynasty. It was in fact the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci who translated the name of a Chinese philosopher, Kong Qiu, into Confucius. Working with a Chinese colleague who had been baptized, Ricci also translated Euclid’s Elements into Chinese. The cross-pollination of ideas followed the incursion into China made by commerce.

................................................................................................

"Although the Chinese emperor decided against expanding trade with Great Britain in 1793, trade between the West and East still played an active role in the commercial enterprises of Western nations. However, the Chinese did not need Western trade as much as the West needed trade with the Chinese. The Chinese operated outside the European sphere of influence and were capable of meeting the domestic needs of their own citizens, offering a high standard of living, independent innovation, and agricultural prowess. There was no need for the Chinese Empire to feel threatened or even influenced by Western demands. China remained focused upon its own world view, establishing policies which mitigated the expansion of Western power."

This author must be copying from official propaganda, even if second hand. The picture one gets, even from literature by those who loved China and revered everything thereof, is far from that assertion above. 

................................................................................................

"During the eighteenth century, the British, French, and Dutch were zealous in their efforts to maximize their trade networks in Asia, which made China’s Qing Dynasty a sought-after partner in their expanding markets. China had, for more than a millennium, been the Silk Road’s eastern destination, one which the British and Dutch East India Companies yearned to break into in order to increase the profits of their trading companies.

"However, the centuries would see a dynamic shift in the global influence which the West held over the East, and in the mid-nineteenth century, the British Empire was rapidly becoming the largest empire in history. The British, along with much of the world, continued to desire Chinese exports such as tea, silk, and porcelain. At this point, China’s boundaries upon Western trade, which included restricting European traders to the port of Canton, forbade the foreigners from learning Chinese and threatened punishment to any European who attempted to venture outside Canton in order to enter China. The Chinese were still able, despite Great Britain’s growing power, to define the borders of trade in the country.

................................................................................................

"Although Chinese goods were wildly popular in Europe, the Chinese did not reciprocate with an interest in the manufactured products of Europe. Instead of trading goods, the Qing Dynasty required payment in silver. This lopsided trading partnership left the British with a trade deficit; the British, lacking their own supply of silver, had to purchase the coveted metal either from Mexico or from those European nations who had silver mines in colonies they controlled.

"By this time, the British had become excessively fond of tea, and the nation was importing more than six tons of Chinese tea each year. The imbalance was so pronounced that in 50 years of trading with each other, the British sold £9 million worth of its manufactured goods to the Chinese while buying £27 million worth of Chinese products, paying for the difference in silver. The opium trade was about to shift the balance of trade in Great Britain’s favor.

................................................................................................

"The Chinese had been introduced to opium late in the sixth or early in the seventh century by Turkish and Arab traders. It was useful to relieve pain and tension in limited quantities. The importation of opium increased during the first century of the Qing Dynasty rule, which began in 1644. As the practice of smoking tobacco had spread from the New World, smoking opium became a common practice.

"As the eighteenth century dawned, the Portuguese began earning a great profit by importing Indian opium to sell in China. The path was paved for the British to do the same. The opium product was by now stronger than what the Chinese used in their medicines. In response, Emperor Yongzheng prohibited the sale and smoking of opium in 1729. However, addiction meant that the popularity of opium was undiminished, and the trade continued.

"The British depended upon the money received from opium revenues; for the British, the lucrative opium trade funded their own financial stability. By 1773, the British were the leading suppliers of opium to China. In India, the British East India Company’s monopoly on opium cultivation led to a method of growing poppies abundantly and at a cheaper cost. Once again, the Chinese emperor legislated against the importation of opium, and once again, the effort failed. The British had finally discovered an export which the Chinese wanted and could not do without; that it was a deadly drug debilitating a nation’s population mattered only to the Chinese."

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December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

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Chapter 2. The First Opium War 

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"“You do not wish opium to harm your own country, but you choose to bring that harm to other countries, such as China.” 

"—Lin Zexu"

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"It wasn’t long before Chinese traders were willing to accept opium as payment in exchange for goods, even though the transaction was illegal in China. The result led to alarming rates of addiction; some estimates claim that perhaps as many as 90% of the young men along the east coast of China were opium addicts by 1830. Operating by stealth, the British East India Company outsourced the opium to private traders it had licensed to transport the opium from India to China, selling it to smugglers along the coast of China. The traders gave the gold and silver they received for the opium to the British East India Company; the company then used the gold and silver to buy Chinese goods it could sell at a profit in the United Kingdom.

"The increase in opium sold to China was staggering; the Chinese purchased 1,000 chests of opium in 1767. Between 1820 and 1830, the sale increased to 10,000 chests a year. Each chest contained approximately 140 pounds of opium. By 1838, 40,000 chests per year were being imported into China, aided by corrupt Chinese officials who helped develop an effective network for distributing it.

"Opium addiction had infiltrated the empire’s military troops and officials as well as the lower classes. With the illegal opium trade, Great Britain was winning the trade war; the opium production and smuggling process now made up between 15 and 20 percent of the revenue of the British East India Company. To protect this monopoly on opium production, Great Britain annexed whole sections of the Indian subcontinent where the poppy grew."

Author fails to inform readers about the facts regarding the latter - how growing opium as whole fields, much less a large scale harvest,  wasn't natural to India until enforced by British, and how it empoverished the farmers in India, resulting in bonded labour exported from British to their plantations throughout the empire. 

Why author refrains from mentioning this isn't clear. Colonial racism? Macaulay policy?

................................................................................................

"Meanwhile, China was losing the addiction war. Even though the Chinese had completely outlawed opium in 1796, its prevalence was felt throughout Chinese society, particularly in the cities on the coast. An imperial edict was issued, stating that opium was a poison undermining the morals and customs of China. The warning went unheeded. By 1839, an estimated 27% of Chinese males were opium addicts. The viceroy to the emperor, Lin Zexu, sent a letter to Queen Victoria, asking for her help and challenging the morality of her government’s actions. Citing the British ban on opium, Lin wrote, “You do not wish opium to harm your own country, but you choose to bring that harm to other countries such as China.”

"The British monarch did not reply to the letter. ... "

This unforgivable lapse makes any claim on her behalf - or on behalf of british in general, for that matter -regarding morals, or good governance, at best very questionable, and in reality exposed as no more than fraudulent propaganda. 

This is even more so of every possible church and in particular all missionaries, who did not protest any of this, much less vigorously so. 

" ... Driven to do something to ease the crisis, in the spring of 1839, Lin Zexu had the opium dealers arrested and confiscated 1,200 tons of opium and 70,000 opium pipes, destroying over 20,000 opium chests that had been stored in Canton warehouses by the British merchants. While some British ships were able to escape Canton, some of the traders had no choice but to surrender their opium, which was destroyed. The opium trade became an offense punishable by death."

Quite right. Well done. 

................................................................................................

"British influence—some would say control—over Chinese policies extended beyond trade. In July of that year, a Chinese villager was killed by two drunken British sailors. The British government refused to release the sailors to the Chinese to face the justice of the Chinese legal system. As a result, tensions between the two countries heightened."

Considering the recent behaviour by Europe in general and Vatican in particular regarding Italian sailors guilty of murder of infant fishermen in coastal waters of India, oneust say nothing is different as far as either racism or morals of Europe are concerned, or of church for that matter. Any claim therefrom to fairness, justice, humanity, morals et al is obviously fraudulent. 

................................................................................................

"The British had a military presence in the area, and Charles Elliot, the British Superintendent of Trade in China, commanded a fleet which were stationed outside the Canton harbor. After the Chinese authorities issued a statement requiring all foreign ships to sign a bond agreeing not to trade opium, Elliot countered by ordering a blockade preventing British ships from trading with the Chinese. In November 1939, the British fired warning shots when one British trading vessel, the Royal Saxon, ignored the blockade and attempted to sail into Canton port. The Chinese ships sailed out of the harbor to preserve order. Firing ensued, and the Chinese ships were disabled."

So any Brits attempting a moral and legal stance were assaulted by British institutions! 

................................................................................................

"Back in London, feelings ran high at the incident. Many British felt that the Chinese were violating free trade. The Whig government proposed going to war, a decision opposed by the Tories; their opposing motion was defeated by nine votes, revealing the controversial nature of the conflict. The British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, instructed the British military to engage the Chinese in a punitive expedition and to capture Hong Kong, which would serve the British as a trading site in the future."

Author misleads readers here in refraining from mention of actual state of affairs. Hong Kong wasn't a bustling port, much less of a city, then - but only an island or a bunch thereof, with few poor local fisher folk as residents. 

................................................................................................

"In June 1840, British troops and ships arrived in Hong Kong. The Royal Navy sailed up the Pearl River estuary, where they captured one port and blocked several others. Negotiations followed, but ultimately, diplomacy failed to resolve the conflict. In May 1841, the British attacked Canton and occupied it, but the fighting in other parts of China continued into the following year. British ships which were powered by steam were able to move against the wind and the tides, an ability which served them well when they attacked cities located further up the Pearl and Yangtze Rivers. There were also more guns on some of the British warships than the entire Chinese fleet could claim.

"After a vigorous counterattack by Chinese troops in the spring of 1842, the British managed to fight back against the offensive. British artillery bombardments led to the capture of Shanghai, and when the Royal Navy reached Nanjing, the Chinese were open to negotiations. The Chinese had lost as many as 20,000 soldiers, while the British only suffered a few hundred casualties, and many of those were caused by disease rather than fighting.

................................................................................................

"On August 29, the Treaty of Nanjing was signed aboard the HMS Cornwallis. The terms of the treaty were exceedingly advantageous to Great Britain. China had to cede Hong Kong to the British as well as increase the number of ports open to British trading and residence. Instead of only being allowed to live and trade in Canton, the British gained access to four more ports, including Shanghai. In addition, the British demanded compensation for the cost of the war and for the opium which had been destroyed. The total amount to be paid by China was $21 million, $6 million of which was to be paid immediately. 

"Furthering their triumph, the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, which was signed on October 8, 1843, ensured that if a British citizen were charged with a crime in China, they would be tried in a British court, not a Chinese one. The British also demanded most-favored-nation trading status. 

"Yet most devastating to the Chinese people and government was the British insistence that the opium trade had to be legalized. Addiction, it seemed, was required if the Chinese were to keep the British appeased."

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December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

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Chapter 3. The Second Opium War 

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"“The opium trade produced a rationale for the Christian presence in China, turning the country into a depraved mass of opium sots to be disciplined and improved by salvation-hungry missionaries.” 

"—Julia Lovell"

Indeed! What else could they feed on if not poverty, disease, filth, depravity ... guilt? 

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"Advances in maritime exploration and trade in the mid-nineteenth century, combined with a dauntless conviction of the glorious destiny of white Christianity, emboldened the Western powers to press their advantages in order to expand trade with China. The British were in the vanguard of this movement, seeking for their empire the opening of the vastness of China to British merchants, the legalization of the opium trade, the installation of a British ambassador in Beijing, and exemption of imports from tariffs.

"These proposals were not supported by Emperor Xianfeng or his Qing government, by this time weary of constant concessions being demanded by the British government. Making matters worse was the Taiping Rebellion, which broke out against the government in 1850. The Taiping Rebellion possessed the alarming potential to undo the existing political and social structure of Chinese society, and the ability of the emperor to mount a solid defense against the invasion by the Westerners was compromised by this internal unrest.

"Understandably, the Treaty of Nanjing which awarded the British so much in terms of influence and future profits did nothing to soothe the exacerbated hostilities between Great Britain and China. Well aware of the possibilities that unrest within China could provide in terms of an advantage, the British were alert for ways to exploit the volatile situation for their own benefit.

................................................................................................

"On October 8, 1856, Chinese officials in Canton arrested 12 Chinese crewmen from the Arrow, a ship that was registered in Hong Kong which by then was under British control. According to reports, the Arrow had been flying the British flag at the time of the arrest before the Chinese officials tore the flag down. British diplomats sought redress and the release of the prisoners, but the Chinese, claiming that the Arrow was a pirate ship involved in smuggling, refused. In addition, the Chinese were reportedly offering a bounty of $100 on every British taken.

"As a result, a British warship bombarded Canton and destroyed forts outside the city. Trade came to a halt as the two sides were at an impasse. In December of that year, the Chinese set fire to foreign warehouses in Canton.

"Back home, British citizens were outraged at Prime Minister Palmerston’s handling of the Arrow incident, forcing a general election in 1857. As British nationalism surged, the Whig government gained a majority in Parliament and the public hungered for war against China. William Gladstone, who would one day serve as prime minister, was not swayed by the warlike fervor and regarded the first Opium War as “calculated in its progress to cover this country with permanent disgrace.” That a Second Opium War was in the offing only exacerbated the matter.

................................................................................................

"Like the Chinese, the British also had unrest to deal with, although their unrest was not back in Britain but in the colony of India. As the British were dealing with the election at home and the aftermath of the Arrow incident in China, members of the Bengal army rose up against the British in what became known as the Indian Rebellion. The uprising required the sending of more troops to India, so Great Britain called upon its allies—France, Russia, and the United States—for support. The Russians and the Americans merely sent envoys, but the French, still furious that the Chinese had executed a French missionary, joined the British forces.

"After the Indian Rebellion was put down, the British and French went to Hong Kong and, from there, to the Chinese forts south of Canton. Advancing north, the Western alliance engaged in a brief fight before taking Canton in late 1857. With Canton occupied by the military, the French and British headed north, and in May 1858, they captured the Taku Forts outside of Tianjin.

................................................................................................

"Still distracted by the Taiping Rebellion, which would continue until 1864, the Chinese government struggled to mount a consistent defense against the Western invaders. The Chinese government did not want to risk the outrage which allowing a foreign government to have a residence in the Chinese capital would ignite among the population. Because the Chinese felt themselves superior to the mercenary and intrusive Westerners, they could not allow Western standards to be absorbed into their own cultural model. If the Westerners lived in Beijing, that would indicate that they were equal to the Chinese, and this was not something the Chinese were prepared to concede.

"This loss of face would challenge the view that China was the center of human civilization, the Middle Kingdom. The West, with its burgeoning industry and vigorous trade, saw its maritime commerce as a sign of its power. But to the Chinese, the Westerners came because they needed Chinese goods; hence, it was the Western powers who were in need. As far back as 1793, Emperor Qianlong had written to King George III: “I set no value on objects strange and ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures.”

................................................................................................

"Suing for peace was the only option that seemed viable for the Chinese. A British retinue led by the Earl of Elgin came to sign the Treaty of Tianjin on June 26, 1858; a military band played music and the Royal Marines accompanied the British contingent. It was a hot summer day, with the temperatures reaching into the 90s Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), when the representatives of the two clashing cultures met.

"The Chinese presented their case, but in the end, Lord Elgin secured the right for British envoys to live in Beijing. Naturally, other Western powers arranged for a similar agreement. In addition, ten new Chinese ports were opened to trade, and foreigners were now allowed to travel into the interior of the Chinese mainland. Foreign missionaries of both the Catholic and Protestant faiths were permitted to evangelize, and opium could legally be imported and sold in China.

"However, the truce did not last long. The Chinese government resented the concessions made in the previous treaties, and Emperor Xianfeng was soon forced to accede to the government’s wishes by sending military forces under Mongol General Sengge Rinchen to reinforce the Taku Forts. When General Rinchen refused permission to allow foreign troops to escort the British ambassadors to their post in Beijing—he was amenable to allowing the ambassadors to land on Chinese soil but not to having an entourage of troops accompany them to Beijing—the fighting resumed.

................................................................................................

"After clearing obstacles from the Baihe River, the British Admiral Sir James Hope’s fleet bombarded the Taku Forts. However, the Chinese fought fiercely, leaving the British with no option but to withdraw with the assistance of the American Commodore Josiah Tattnall, violating U.S. neutrality in the process.

"The British and French had not expected such a vigorous and successful defense of the Taku Forts, and they were determined to prove victorious in their next endeavor. By the summer of 1860, the French and British boasted a military force of more than 17,000 soldiers and 173 ships. The British landed two miles from the Taku Forts on August 3, 1860; by August 21, the forts were in British hands.

"In September, General Rinchen, with 30,000 men, met the British at Baliqiao and launched frontal assaults against them. Not only were his efforts in vain, but his army was wiped out. With the British and French troops rapidly approaching Beijing, Emperor Xianfeng felt that he had no option but to sue for peace again. However, the negotiation was doomed after a British envoy and his delegation were arrested and tortured.

................................................................................................

"The French and British entered Beijing on October 6 as the emperor, with no military forces to protect him, escaped from Beijing, leaving Prince Gong behind to negotiate peace terms. Western retaliation was vicious. The French and British troops attacked the Old Summer Palace to liberate the Western prisoners who were held there. Chinese art was looted and taken home to Britain and France. Diplomats were able to dissuade Lord Elgin from burning Beijing to punish the Chinese for the kidnapping and torture of the prisoners; instead, he settled for burning the Old Summer Palace."

Very comparable with, and reminiscent of, the horror of destruction and havoc wreaked throughout the continent South of Panama, by Europeans. 

................................................................................................

"After Beijing was taken, the negotiations with the Western forces left the Chinese with few options. Prince Gong signed a new treaty, the Convention of Peking, on October 24, 1860. Kowloon, which had been leased in March 1860, was formally ceded to the British, and Tianjin was opened as a free port for foreigners. Religious freedom was permitted, and reparations were to be paid to France and Great Britain. In a separate treaty, the Russians acquired coastal land in the north of China; here, they would establish the port of Vladivostok as their reward for convincing the French and British to not burn down Beijing.

"The fact that a barbarian army had defeated the Chinese military led to a reassessment of the government on the part of the Chinese people. The Qing Dynasty’s standing in the eyes of the people was shattered: the emperor had fled from the fighting, casting doubt on the superiority of the Chinese and leading to questions about the effectiveness of the government. Wounded by the humiliation which China had endured and wary of the government’s acquiescence to foreign powers, ordinary Chinese citizens began questioning their obedience to an imperial court which seemed incapable of defending their honor.

"The concessions that China made in the Convention of Peking and the prior agreements, which would be known as the unequal treaties, demonstrated the weakness of China’s position. The truth was even worse than ordinary people could have imagined. Some modern economists have asserted that, until the Opium Wars, China had the world’s largest economy. By 1870, China’s share of global GDP had fallen by half, and China would be severely disadvantaged in its international relations and trade for decades. China had been beaten by the Yi, the barbarians."

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December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

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Chapter 4. The Self-Strengthening Movement 

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"“Take away your missionaries and your opium and you will be welcome.” 

"—Chinese official"

Very succinctly said, very astute. 

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"The triumph of the West in the Opium Wars and the concessions made in the unequal treaties were humbling for China, which for 2,000 years had been the unquestioned power in Asia. Now that the West had forced China to submit, the Western powers began to regard Chinese territory similar to the way in which they viewed their colonies.

"For the British, their region was the Pearl River Basin because of their control of Hong Kong. In addition, Shanghai had evolved into a vital commercial center for the British, and from there, they extended their dominance over the entire Yangtze River Basin. The French were dominant in Vietnam, so they regarded southern China’s Red River Basin as their sphere of influence. Russia’s imprint was pressed upon Manchuria. Germany, with the Shandong Province, sought to extend its authority along the Yellow River. The Chinese still maintained governments in these areas, but they no longer operated on their own authority. They had foreign officials to answer to, who were intent on keeping the regions obedient to Western aims.

"For the Qing Dynasty, which had reigned over China since 1644, the erosion of its power and sovereignty was ominous. Their authority over the people had overseen everything from language to rituals to religion and social customs. The Qing came from Manchuria, and they had preserved their identity as outsiders who had conquered China. But the control they could impose upon regions in the past had been changing as Asia was accommodating the intrusion of the West."

Notice the minimisation of what West did to Asia, by this author, in labelling it "intrusion". The said "intrusion" amounted, not only to loot of billions, but deaths of millions due directly to the said "intrusion" by West, quite apart from the deaths caused in course of the two world wars - which originated in, and due entirely to, West. 

................................................................................................

"The White Lotus Rebellion, which began in 1796, had challenged the Qing edict limiting agriculture in the northern regions, as crops like maize and potatoes from the New World changed farming. The West ushered in ways to irrigate farmland and use fertilizers to maximize harvest, practices which were different from what had been done in the past. The West also introduced new methods of treating infectious diseases like smallpox. While some of the Western innovations were positive, they represented a change from the methods and practices that were familiar to the Chinese, adding more resentment to what the population already felt.

"These advances led to a population boom; in 1749, the population of China was roughly 178 million. By 1851, the Qing Dynasty ruled over 432 million people. Overcrowding in some areas led to Chinese people moving to other parts of China, and with movement came new ideas and new conflicts, including rebellions. The Qing Dynasty had been able to defeat the White Lotus Rebellion but not to wipe out its goals, which remained the overthrow of the dynasty. The following decades, which witnessed more encroachment by the West, gave rise to increasing frustration for the Chinese.

................................................................................................

"After the Second Opium War, the British demand for reparations enriched Great Britain with millions of pounds of silver, weakening China’s economy as well as its image. The Qing Dynasty came belatedly to the realization that in order to restore its power in the region and its image within, it had to modernize. Beginning in 1861, China underwent what was called the Self-Strengthening or Westernization Movement, which implemented institutional reforms.

"Prince Gong, who had negotiated the Convention of Peking treaty after the flight of the emperor, was made the head of the Zongli Yamen, which functioned in the manner of a foreign ministry. Private militias in the Western model were formed to fight the Taiping rebels, and the overall intention of the movement was to import Western science and military technology into Chinese schools, arsenals, and munitions factories.

"The provincial officials were successful in constructing railways and innovating shipping and telegraph communication, resulting in the modernization of Chinese heavy industry and its military. The Self-Strengthening Movement focused on economic and military upgrading, not social reform. These innovations saved the Qing Dynasty from collapse in the short term. Unfortunately for the future of the Qing, however, its demise was merely a matter of time. The seemingly endless succession of wars and conflicts was corrosive to the Qing Dynasty’s ability to maintain order and stability in a nation weary of fighting and losing.

................................................................................................

"In 1894, the two Asian empires—China’s Qing Dynasty and the Empire of Japan—fought over which nation would prevail in having influence in Korea. The Japanese army and navy triumphed, resulting in the Chinese loss of the port of Weihaiwei. In February 1895, the Chinese government sought peace terms. Japan capitalized on China’s weakness, taking Taiwan and controlling Korea which had formerly been a tributary of the Chinese. By 1895, Japan was also empowered to insist on advantageous trade demands in the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

"Despite the improvements brought about by the Self-Strengthening Movement, the Qing Dynasty had demonstrated that it was unable to defend its borders from the aggression of its powerful neighbor Japan. As a result, Japan was now the dominant power in East Asia, a crushing blow to Qing prestige. Stricken by the loss of Korea as a tributary state, the public was not silent.

................................................................................................

"The end of the Qing Dynasty was nearing, a fall which would be precipitated by yet another uprising, this one in northern China. It was inspired by Chinese resentment at the continued encroachment of the influence of Westerners and the Japanese in the region. Young men in local villages, some only teenagers, found the call to arms to be a welcome substitute for the unemployment and lack of opportunity which plagued their communities. The uprising, called the Boxer Rebellion, would come to have a much greater influence over twentieth-century China than the two years of its span would seem to indicate. 

"Behind the Boxer Rebellion lay capitulation to foreign powers. Ahead of it was the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the rise of the Chinese republic, the rise of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution, and the foundations of what would lead to the evolution of modern China as a pivotal player on the world’s economic and political stage."

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December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

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Chapter 5. Rise of the Boxers 

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"“The Boxer is a patriot. He loves his country better than he does the countries of other people. I wish him success.” 

"—Mark Twain"

More moral, Mark Twain, than all the Western governments put together, not to mention traders and shipping lines involved in pushing opium into China.

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"In the late early nineteenth century, another group, the Eight Trigrams Society, had formed with the objective of overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and getting rid of the intrusive Westerners who seemed to be taking over China. Although the Eight Trigrams uprising failed, those sentiments would take root in other disaffected members of the Chinese population.

"The northern region of China, in the coastal Shandong province of China, was a region beset by famine and flooding and known for its religious groups, social unease, and lack of economic opportunity. From 1897 to 1898, a drought that came after flooding drove farmers to the cities in need of food. When these natural conditions were combined with resentment against foreign powers holding such unbalanced influence over China, an assortment of fervent young men formed a secret society as a way of redressing the wrongs done to their people. The adverse effects of prolonged extreme weather and the mounting hostility toward the imperial court were catalyzed by the further expansion encroachment of the Western colonization efforts.

"The young men of the region were hungry for more than food. Following the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin and the Convention of Peking, foreign missionaries were permitted to preach the Christian doctrine in China and to purchase Chinese land for the building of churches. Their evangelism fueled the resentment which the villagers felt against foreigners.

................................................................................................

"Thus, the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, or the Boxer movement, was formed late in the 1890s. Frustrated at feeling helpless and impoverished while foreigners exploited their country, the members of the group, mostly peasants, employed physical fitness to build up their strength. Believing that they were immune to bullets and invincible to attack, the group used calisthenics and martial arts. Their practices included prostration and the chanting of incantations to gods. They armed themselves with swords and rifles, confident that their spiritual powers would protect them from the weapons of the West. As they moved forward on their quest to rid China of the foreigners, they believed that the heavens would open up to send millions of soldiers to assist them in their righteous quest.

"Angry at the presence of foreigners and missionaries who were, they felt, subverting Chinese beliefs with Christian evangelism, the Boxers started to attack foreigners as well as Chinese Christians. Christian missionaries, passionate with the zeal to spread their beliefs, were often insensitive to Chinese customs. The foreign missionaries put pressure on community officials so that Chinese converts to Christianity would have special favors in lawsuits and disagreements over property.

"As the Boxers became more united in their cause and began to attract more members who agreed with their goals, they started to act upon their purpose. In October 1898, they attacked a Christian community where a former temple to the Jade Emperor had been turned into a Catholic place of worship. The site of the church had been a source of controversy since 1869 between the Chinese and the Christians who lived there, and the attack was a precursor of more to come. A year later, the Boxers clashed with troops from the Qing government at the Battle of Senluo Temple.

................................................................................................

"Coinciding with the rise of the Boxer movement was the Hundred Days Reform. During that time, Protestant missionaries had gotten the support of some Chinese government officials to convince the Qing government to bring about reforms. However, Empress Dowager Cixi, responding to the opposition of the more conservative officials in the government, canceled the reforms. This caused greater dissension between the factions, making the Qing Dynasty even more vulnerable. The empress dowager grabbed the reins of power and had the emperor placed under house arrest in order to wrest control of the government.

"As the dissension grew stronger, members of the Chinese government who agreed with the Boxers on the desire to rid China of its foreign presence were able to persuade the group to relinquish their intentions to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Together, the Boxers and the conservative forces in the government would join together to liberate China from foreign influence. By January of 1900, the imperial court of Empress Dowager Cixi was heavily influenced by a majority of conservative officials, and this led the empress to voice support for the Boxers too. Her decision spawned protests from the foreign representatives in China.

"Spring of 1900 saw the movement’s expansion from Shandong to the outskirts of Beijing, where the Boxers targeted Christian places of worship as well as Chinese converts to Christianity. When German soldiers in Beijing captured a Boxer youth and executed him, the Boxers retaliated, and thousands entered Beijing to burn not only many of the Christian places of worship in the city but also burning people alive as well. As soldiers protecting the legations fired back upon the Boxers, the Chinese who lived in the city felt animosity toward the foreigners, and some sought revenge by killing Chinese Christians in the city.

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"Increasingly concerned, the foreign diplomats in China requested permission from the Chinese government to ask foreign troops to enter Beijing to provide defense for the foreign legations who were now vulnerable. After the Chinese government gave its reluctant consent, a force of 435 naval troops from the Eight-Nation Alliance (Britain, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, the U.S., Italy, and Austria-Hungary) was on its way to Beijing. However, the Boxers had severed the railway line from Tianjin, which meant that Beijing was now cut off.

"The imperial court was sending mixed messages regarding its intentions. On June 13, the empress dowager directed her forces to prevent the foreign soldiers from advancing, forcing the troops to turn back. Recognizing the dilemma that China faced—support of the Boxers versus the wrath of the Western powers—the empress dowager addressed the issues to her imperial court. Support for the Boxers ran high in the countryside; attempts to suppress that support at a time when foreign troops were actively engaged within Beijing would be difficult. The anti-foreigner faction believed that the Qing government ought to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Boxers and kick out the foreigners and their divisive influence. Opposing that view were those in the court who derided the Boxers as ignorant peasants who were an obstacle to achieving an agreement with the governments of the other Western countries.

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"In any case, the spread of the violence brought in more foreign troops and sailors under the command of the British. Vice-Admiral Edward Seymour decided they needed to repair the severed railway line or travel on foot in order to get to Beijing. His resolve in doing so, and the advance of the troops, incited further anger in the imperial court. A prince of the Manchus, who supported the Boxer movement, became the new leader of the Chinese foreign office and ordered the imperial army to strike against Seymour’s forces headed toward Beijing.

"However, the orders were not clear, and initially, the Chinese did not prevent the British advance by train. Seymour’s forces managed to reach Langfang, but while there, as the engineers worked to repair the damaged railway line, the soldiers were surrounded both by government troops and Chinese irregulars. The Chinese forces were victorious over Seymour on June 18 at the Battle of Langfang, forcing the Europeans to retreat under fire. The Europeans, having expected an easy victory over the Chinese, had neglected to bring along sufficient artillery. The Chinese had not been so lax and their bombardment was effective, as were their sniper actions, ambushes, and pincer movements against the invaders.

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"The British-led forces loaded their wounded and supplies onto civilian ships commandeered from the Chinese. Food, ammunition, and medical supplies were in short supply when the foreign forces fortuitously discovered a concealed arsenal with rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, and field guns. The supply also included rice and medical supplies.

"The British-led forces, now well supplied, waited to be rescued. A servant infiltrated the Chinese lines and reached the Eight Powers to alert them to the plight of Seymour’s troops, who by this time were nearly at the point of being overwhelmed. A regiment of multinational troops was sent, and after setting fire to the munitions they could not take with them, Seymour’s force was rescued.

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"Communication between Tianjin and Beijing had meanwhile broken down, and the foreign nations decided it was time to make their military presence felt. On June 17, the Alliance captured the Taku Forts, which controlled the approach to Tianjin as part of the tactical effort to open access to Beijing. Troops in ever-increasing numbers landed on the shore.

"The military alliance issued a demand to the Chinese empress dowager: surrender control over the Chinese military and financial matters to the foreign powers. Empress Dowager Cixi responded to her grand council, “Now they have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why don’t we fight to the death?”

"The empress dowager ordered the expulsion of all foreign diplomats from Beijing on June 18. The subsequent murder of a German government official made it clear that the lives of the foreigners were in mortal danger, and they, along with hundreds of Chinese converts to Christianity, found themselves under siege in the Legation Quarter and the Roman Catholic cathedral in Beijing."

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December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

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Chapter 6. The Fight for Beijing 

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"“Support the Qing, destroy the foreigners.” 

"—Boxer slogan"

Wonder if the European term 'king' is a derivative of the Chinese 'Qing'.

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"When Empress Dowager Cixi learned that the Taku Forts had been attacked, she gave orders that all foreigners were to leave Beijing within 24 hours. By this point, the foreign legations in Beijing were already under siege by the Peking Field Force. The diplomats doubted that the Chinese army, which Empress Dowager Cixi said would escort them out of the city, could be trusted with their safety, and they refused to obey the imperial command. As they fortified their legations, they offered sanctuary to the Christian missionaries who were in the city.

"There were 473 civilians, 409 military men, and approximately 3,000 Chinese Christians seeking the protection of the legation. Their defense consisted of small arms, three machine guns, and an old muzzle-loaded cannon. Lack of food soon began to weaken the besieged occupants, and casualties resulted from mines which had been placed in tunnels dug beneath the compound.

"On June 21, the empress dowager declared war against all the foreign powers. However, the regional Chinese governors, who commanded fighting forces in Canton, Shandong, Wuhan, and Nanjing, refused to take part in the hostilities. They prevented the declaration of war from being publicized to the public in the south. By remaining neutral, these governors, called the Mutual Protection of Southeast China, kept most of the Chinese people from becoming involved in the fighting."

China must blame them for defeat of China against West, and not Asian soldiers who were employed in Western forces due to colonial regimes having reduced them to seeking employment, even at cost of risking life. 

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"However, neutrality was relative; for example, Governor Zhang of Wuhan entered into negotiations with the foreign powers, while Governor Yuan used his troops to put down the Boxers in Shandong. These actions, although insubordinate in terms of their response to imperial authority, created the impression that the Boxer Rebellion was a local disturbance confined to the northern region of Shandong, which was false.

"Meanwhile, in the Legation Quarter, the representatives of the Eight-Nation Alliance struggled to survive under siege by the Chinese Army and the Boxers. After a failed attempt to force the foreigners out by setting fire to areas around the British Legation, the Chinese forces constructed barricades surrounding the Quarter and steadily pushing the Legation guards back incrementally. Yet despite the attacks of artillery and firecrackers, the damage to the Legation Quarter was minimal. Chinese Christians did the majority of the work in fortifying the defenses of the structures for the besieged Legation Quarter.

"Facing the threat of a Chinese advance upon its crucial defensive position at the Tartar Wall, the Americans opted for an attack on July 3. British, American, and Russian marines and sailors caught the Chinese by surprise with the early morning assault, killing some and driving away the rest. However, ten days later, on July 13, things looked bleak for the legations as the Japanese and Italians in the Fu, the Roman Catholic place of worship, were driven back to their final line of defense. On the same day, a mine under the French Legation was detonated by the Chinese, forcing the occupants out.

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"On July 17, the American minister contacted the Chinese government for an armistice, as over 40% of the foreign guards had been either killed or wounded. A force of 20,000 Western soldiers had now landed in China, and the Qing government realized that despite their victories over the occupants of the Legation, a larger force would be harder to overcome.

"The Eight-Nation Alliance had by this point captured Tianjin. From Tianjin, the 20,000 troops of the international force advanced toward Beijing, encountering minimal resistance from the Chinese, despite the fact that they had 70,000 imperial troops and at least 50,000 Boxer troops. However, more devastating than enemy fire was the hot, humid weather, which reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) in August. When the Allied forces sought wells to stave off dehydration for themselves and to give water to their horses, they were met by hostile Chinese villagers.

"Eyewitness accounts reported that both the Western and the Chinese forces were guilty of committing hideous atrocities during the conflict: women were raped, civilians were beheaded and bayoneted, soldiers’ bodies were mutilated as the Western soldiers fought their way to Beijing. They reached the Forbidden City on August 14, where they encountered Chinese forces trained in Western combat techniques and equipped with modern weapons. Although the Chinese troops had retreated during the battle for Tianjin, they put up a strong resistance during the fighting. However, their efforts were not enough to halt the advance of the 20,000-man force intent on rescuing the besieged captives inside Beijing.

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"Arriving at the Legation Quarter, the international force relieved the troops that had been defending the legations. Realizing that her military had been defeated, the empress dowager and her retinue fled from Beijing in ox carts, the empress dressed as a farmworker. They found safety in Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, where the mountainous terrain kept them out of reach of the invaders.

"Although her advisors urged her to continue the fighting, the empress dowager, after being assured that she would be allowed to retain her title and authority and that China would not have to surrender any of its land, decided to accept the terms presented by the international force. Still, China would not escape punitive terms entirely; the defeated nation was ordered to pay $330 million in war reparations. The Qing government signed the peace treaty, known as the Boxer Protocol, on September 7, 1901. As part of the treaty, ten members of high rank in the imperial court were executed for their part in supporting the Boxer Rebellion. Other government officials who were found guilty of killing foreigners were also executed.

"The reforms which the empress dowager had previously resisted were now implemented. Beginning in 1901, the existing Chinese educational system was replaced with a European format that issued university degrees. Some students, including Sun Yat-sen who would go on to found the Chinese Nationalist Party and head the Chinese Republic after the fall of the monarchy, chose to be educated in Japan. The central bureaucracy was simplified. Taxation policies were revamped. New military and police organizations were formed.

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"With the reforms came a weakening of the dynasty. Within the governing structure, there was ideological tension between the northern Chinese, who supported the Qing Dynasty and opposed the foreigners, and the southern Chinese, who sought the downfall of the Qing Dynasty. Inevitably, a weakened government could not offer a strong national defense and the waning years of the Qing rule saw northern warlords positioned against the revolutionaries of southern China. The bitter rivalry for power between the two factions would not be solved entirely until the Chinese Nationalist Party, joining with the Chinese Communist Party, launched an expedition in 1926 to defeat the northern warlords.

"Beijing and Tianjin, along with other cities in the northern region of China where the Boxer Rebellion had begun, were occupied by the international forces for over a year. The foreign troops were guilty of committing atrocities against the Chinese people during the occupation; women were raped, villages were burned, and property was seized. The British held “loot auctions” every afternoon of the week except on Sundays, and valuable items stolen from China found their way to Europe.

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"Retaliation against the Chinese was rife, and even some Christian missionaries sought revenge despite the precepts of Christianity which preached forgiveness. A foreign journalist wrote of the carnage, “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.”

"Accurate numbers of the casualties from the Boxer Rebellion are difficult to obtain. Most of the 100,000 deaths were civilians, with merely an estimated 3,000 military men killed in the fighting. More than 30,000 Chinese Catholics and 2,000 Chinese Protestants were killed during the Boxer Rebellion, paying the price for what was seen as their betrayal of their Chinese religious heritage. Clergy of multiple Christian denominations lost their lives, including members of the Russian Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic churches."

So "Most of the 100,000 deaths were civilians" is about Chinese killed by West. 

"Ultimately, the Boxer Rebellion enlightened the Western powers, teaching them that their efforts to make China a colony were futile. It had taken the uprising of the Boxers to prove that the West needed to work with the Chinese imperial court and the government in order to have an effective partnership. But while the West was willing to reduce its influence over China, the Empire of Japan saw an opportunity to expand its sphere of influence in Asia, becoming the new dominant power in the region."

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December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

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Chapter 7. The Legacy of the Boxer Rebellion 

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"“Suppose . . . the great nations of Europe were to put their fleets together, came over here, seize Portland, move on down to Boston, then New York, then Philadelphia, and so on down the Atlantic Coast and around the Gulf of Galveston? Suppose they took possession of these port cities, drove our people into the hinterland, built great warehouses and factories, brought in a body of dissolute agents, and calmly notified our people that henceforward they would manage the commerce of the country? Would we not have a Boxer movement to drive those foreign European Christian devils out of our country?” 

"—Rev. Dr. George F. Pentecost"

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"Were the Boxers insular, unsophisticated peasants fighting against Western culture and religion, or were they freedom fighters committed to preserving the Chinese way of life? Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China which would succeed the Qing Dynasty, credited the Boxers for their resistance but still referred to them as bandits; the Boxers were not from the elite ranks of Chinese society, and perceptions may have been tinged by the view that they were uncouth members of the lower classes. Still, after the Qing Dynasty fell, which happened in 1911, national assessment of the Boxers became more favorable.

"Sun Yat-sen later commended the Boxers’ bravery in taking on the military might of the Western powers. In fact, their actions—violent and even barbaric though they seemed to others—were in many ways matched by the actions of the Western nations. There were even people in the West who acknowledged the fact that the Boxers were just in their motives to defend their country against Western arrogance. It was a time when bigotry toward Asians was tolerated often without restraint. Some people, including some theologians, remarked that the behavior of the Christian powers toward the Chinese had displayed no Christ-like attributes."

When did any "behavior of the Christian powers toward" anyone, with exception of Germans post WWII, display any "Christ-like attributes"? Towards Indians or any other Asians, Africans, or natives of "New World" whether East of Pacific Ocean or West? The very epithet "New World", for that matter, denies human status to natives of that  "New World"! 

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"On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Revolution, introduced the People’s Republic of China onto the world political stage. Now, the Boxers were honored rather than disdained for their peasant origins and their forthright stance against Western imperialism. After the death of Mao Zedong, as Chinese historians reassessed the impact of the Cultural Revolution, the violent extremes to which the Boxers resorted were critically redefined, just as China itself was undergoing a redefinition of its national identity.

"The twenty-first century has seen the rise of Chinese economic might, a modern-day recreation of its Silk Road hegemony when the markets of Asia were sought after by the West. Yet today’s China has not ceded supremacy to those foreign markets; now, when Western companies seek to enter the Chinese market, they must cooperate with the Chinese government.

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"Other aspects have changed as well since the Boxer Rebellion was crushed. Hong Kong, which was ceded to the British under the treaty terms, is now under Chinese rule again. Hong Kong’s independence was intended to be honored under the “One Country, Two Systems” philosophy of governing, but as China sought to impress its authority upon the island, Hong Kong has become the setting for protests against what is perceived as an overbearing authoritarian rule which fails to respect its unique identity. The volatile situation continues to stir alarm, with diplomats and journalists wondering to what extent China will go to rein in its defiant prodigal child.

"China is always aware of the suffering it endured at the hands of the West, even now when the nation is an equal to those nations which once exploited it. The ruins of the Summer Palace which was burned down as the Western powers invaded Beijing after the Boxers besieged the Forbidden City remain today, a reminder of what happened when China was at the mercy of invaders. Generations later, the Chinese remember their humiliation at the hands of the West. Chinese President Xi Jinping referred to it in 2017, saying, “That page of Chinese history was one of humiliation and sorrow.”"

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December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

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Bibliography

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"Bodin, Lynn E. & Warner, Christopher (1979). The Boxer Rebellion. 

"Esherick, Joseph W. (1987). The Origins of the Boxer Uprising. 

"Harrington, Peter (2001). Peking 1900: The Boxer Rebellion. 

"Preston, Diana (2000). The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic Story of China's War on Foreigners That Shook the World in the Summer of 1900. 

"Silbey, David (2012). The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China.  

"Xiang, Lanxin (2003). The Origins of the Boxer War: A Multinational Study."

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December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

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BOXER REBELLION: A HISTORY 

from Beginning TO END 

(HISTORY OF CHINA), by 

HOURLY HISTORY.  

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December 25, 2022 - 

December 26, 2022 - December 26, 2022. 

Purchased December 25, 2022.  

ASIN:- B09MQFRV6H

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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5187898396

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