The society of righteous and harmonious fists
The Boxer Rebellion, was the Qing government supported peasant uprising of 1900 that attempted to drive out all foreigners from China. “Boxers” was the name that foreigners gave to a Chinese secret society known as the “Righteous and Harmonious Fists”. The group practiced certain boxing and calisthenics rituals in the belief that this made them invulnerable to western bullets. Many of the Qing officials at this time believed that Boxer rituals actually did make them immune to bullets and they and Cixi, the ruling empress dowager, continued to encourage the group.
By late 1899 the Boxers were openly attacking Chinese Christians and Western missionaries. By May 1900, Boxer bands were roaming the countryside around the capital at Beijing attacking ALL foreigners.
Christian missionary activities helped provoke the Boxers; Christian converts mocked traditional Chinese ceremonies and family relations; and missionaries pressured local officials to side with Christian converts.
The end of the Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer attacks on Europeans forced European governments to respond. An international force of some 19,000 troops was assembled, most of the soldiers coming from Japan and Russia but many also from Britain, the United States, France, Austria-Hungary, and Italy (pictured above) and sent to China. On August 14, 1900, this international force finally captured Beijing, relieving the foreigners and Christians besieged there. Empress Cixi would leave Beijing and flee westward to Xian.
This foreign intervention by western powers further humiliated the already weakened Qing government. By 1911 the Qing dynasty would lose the Mandate of Heaven and become the last Chinese dynasty.
This foreign intervention by western powers further humiliated the already weakened Qing government. By 1911 the Qing dynasty would lose the Mandate of Heaven and become the last Chinese dynasty.