The Boxer
Rebellion at the end of 19th century was a
revolt against both the Chinese monarchy and Western imperialism, although
Cixi, the wily Empress Dowager, used it to further her own ends.
Western
Imperialism in China
The last
years of imperial rule in China were marked by increasing weakness on the part
of the Manchu Qing emperors and increasing dominance by foreign countries. After
China’s defeat in the first Sino-Japanese War of 1895 the carve-up of China began
in earnest, as it was seen by the Western powers as another vast area of the
world, after Africa, to be exploited for its wealth and divided up into
“spheres of influence”. The United States,
which had largely missed the boat in terms of territorial gains in China, proposed an “Open Door” policy to allow
even more exploitation of China’s
riches.
However, the
encroachment of the “foreign devils” was not welcomed by many of the Chinese people,
and the Boxer Rebellion was one step on the road towards the ending of weak
government and incipient colonialism, leading eventually to the Chinese Republic.
The Boxers
The Boxers
were a secret society whose name translates as “The Society of Right and
Harmonious Fists”. They practised a variety of martial arts and calisthenics,
which became a mixture of military training and semi-religious rituals. Many of
the Society members came to believe that they were immune to injury from swords
and bullets, thus giving them considerable courage. Parallels could be made
with the Samurai of Japan in some of these respects. The Society dated back to
before 1700, and had been active in opposing Western influence in the past.
The term
“Boxer” was a nickname given to them by their Western opponents, for whom
martial arts meant the gentlemanly sport of boxing.
One factor
behind the 1898-1900 rebellion was economic distress caused by a succession of
poor harvests, made worse by sanctions imposed after the 1895 war. The original
aim of the Boxers had been to overthrow the government of the Qing dynasty as
well as to expel the foreigners.
Empress Cixi
and the rebellion
The most
powerful member of the Qing dynasty was the Dowager Empress Cixi (otherwise
transliterated as Tzu Hsi) who had risen from concubine to empress and now
controlled the actions of the nominal emperor, her nephew Guangxu. She was a
particularly devious and clever woman who saw a way to use the rebellion to her
own advantage, as she was also in favour of the Boxers’ policy of ridding China of
foreign influence.
The first
actions of the Boxers took place in March 1898, in a dispute over the ownership
of a building that was either a temple or a Catholic church (the facts are
disputed), and which came under attack from the rebels. Anti-Christian
activities were a pronounced feature of the rebellion, and many Chinese
converts became its victims, given that Christianity was regarded as a
constituent feature of Western colonialism.
Shortly after
this incident, Guangxu attempted to reform the government of China along
more liberal lines, including introducing elements of democracy and reforming
the educational and economic systems of the country. Cixi was totally opposed
to such moves and engineered a virtual coup d’etat, which resulted, in
September 1898, in Guangxu being placed in virtual exile within the Forbidden City, and the real power moving decisively
Cixi’s way.
For the
Boxers, the proposed reforms smacked of giving in to Western influences.
However, their opposition was seen as being to the official government, and in
October they were soundly beaten by troops loyal to Guangxu. Empress Cixi,
however, was keen to exploit the power that the Boxers wielded and began
supporting their campaign, at first covertly but later more openly.
Despite her
dominance of the imperial court, Cixi’s rule did not extend in practice across
the whole of China, and local provincial governors were in general more
inclined to accept the presence of foreign traders and missionaries in their
territories, and therefore to oppose the Boxers and ignore the instructions of
the Empress Dowager. The governors were not necessarily any more welcoming of
“foreign devils” than the Boxers, but they could foresee the dangers of
encouraging military intervention by the Western powers, and they were to be
proved correct in exercising such caution.
Western
governments become involved
The Boxers
therefore concentrated their attentions on Beijing, beginning in early 1900 with
massacres of Chinese Christians and destruction of foreign-owned property. The
Western delegations in Beijing
could see what was likely to happen and called in military backing from the
troops they maintained at bases on the Chinese coast. However, only a small
force had arrived by the time the Boxers sealed off the city and laid siege to
the diplomatic quarter, to which a large number of Chinese Christians and
westerners had retreated to seek refuge.
So began the
“55 days in Peking” of the 1963 film title, a time of great suffering,
punctuated with incidents of cruelty and courage. Among the victims were 66
children who died in an attack on the Cathedral, where they were being cared
for by a group of nuns.
The relief of
Beijing in August 1900 was effected by an eight-nation force that was hampered
by its constituent parts trying to outdo each other and claim credit for
breaking the siege. They did succeed eventually and the power of the Boxers was
broken, although not without minor resistance in various places over the next
few months.
The aftermath
of the rebellion
For many of
the rebels, the rebellion had a disastrous outcome, with thousands being
rounded up, briefly tried (if at all) and condemned, and brutally executed.
There are photographs of public beheadings and corpses butchered in the street.
It is highly likely that many victims of these executions were innocent
bystanders who were unfortunate enough to be caught up in the general
bloodletting.
The net
result for China was further humiliation in the form of demands for
reparations, especially as it was very clear that the Boxers had not acted
alone in their attacks on Western property and personnel, including the murders
of a number of diplomats. China’s
mineral wealth was now virtually at the disposal of the West, and the Qing
dynasty entered its final phase.
Empress Cixi
lived on for another eight years, dying only one day after Guangxu in 1908, and
having installed the boy emperor Puyi who was to be “The Last Emperor”, to
quote the title of another celebrated film. In 1912 the Chinese Republic
was declared, and 2,000 years of Empire came to a close.
© John
Welford
