The Boxer Rebellion 1899-1901
Causes
Impact response
China-Centred
Why the Boxers Won
Western Power Strength
Boxer Weakness
Consequences of the Boxer War
Governor Zhang Rumei neglected dyke maintenance - and was slow to organise relief forces after the flood of 1898.
Tianjin Massacre 1872. when a French consul shot a Chinese magistrate, a riot ensued of Cathedrals being burnt down and 60 fatalities. showed the Western powers that a powerful military influence was needed.
1898 flood affected more than a million people. it was followed by a huge famine in 1900
Short term
Juye Incident
Both confucius and mencius were from Shandong
Killing of two German Catholic missionaries, Richard Henle and Franz Xavier Nies. Third missionary on 2 November 1897 survived the attack.
German Empire used the murders as a pretext to seize Jiaozhou Bay on Shandong’s southern coast. Qing government was also forced to remove many Shandong officials from their posts and to build three Catholic Churches in the area
after the rejection of the Hundred Days Reform in 1898, Prince Duan and the other conservative courtiers were emboldened in their aggression towards the foreigners.
Intellectuals were spreading pamphlets around the country after the attempt. Accelerates discontent thta is already there
a rise in banditry and crime across a largely ungoverned region ensued, as shown by the fact there was roughly one official for every 240,000 people, and meant that people had to choose sides between the two external protectors: the missionaries or the Boxers. This conflict will be seen as a vital cause of the uprising.
Long Term
Long term
The Role of Cixi
silent dictator for Tongzhi’s reign 1861-75 and also Guangxu’s until 1889.
her power was impressively consolidated after the Hundred Days reform when orders were quickly issued to arrest Kang Youwei. He and Liang fled to Japan, with other reformers being executed. Provincial officials that did support the reforms were stripped of their titles after the Hundred Days reform in 1898
Cixi was initially ambivalent to the anti-Qing boxer group. Certainly, in December 1899 rewards were offered for arrests of anti-Christian organisations such as the Big Sword Society and there was also ambivalence in official policy. This was seen most clearly by the fact that two weeks after a pro-boxer edict the court ordered the Shandong and Zhili officials to strictly prohibit the Boxers United in Righteousness.
Momentum made by the Boxers pre-Cixi
the attack on the First Chinese Regiment on May 5th where the Boxers unarmed Major Penrose and forced British reinforcement
as a part of triple intervention (following the harsh treaty of shimonoseki) on 6 March 1898 Chinese Imperial court leased the area of Jiaozhou to Germany for 99 years, the entire province was declared German sphere of influence, and Germany was given the right to construct two railways from Jiaozhou to the province capital of Jinan.
Century of Humiliation
One railway was said to take the place of ten-thousand coolies, who had been carrying freight for generations. Western innovation violently displaced millions from their livelihoods and Feng Shui was said to be disrupted
missionary doctors threatened practitioners and foreigners insisted on building their churches in such a way to challenge traditional spiritual belief.
Japan
Meiji Restoriation 1868 was the root cause for the Hundred Days reform
The effect of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 evidence this, as shown by the fact that it ceded Korea and other territories as well as 200 million taels of silver.
Prior to the Sino‐Japanese War, there were almost 50,000 troops on the payroll in Shandong, but these numbers have dropped to 30,000 in 1897 and to some 21,000 only in 1898. Dismissed troops became unemployed, and thus tempted to resort to banditry. The need to fight the bandits was the reason why many Chinese joined the “Boxers”.
June 14, 1900: German Minister Clemens von Ketteler arrests and summarily executes a young boy he suspects of being a Boxer.
June 14, 1900: Thousands of angry Boxers storm Beijing and burn Christian churches in response to boy's murder.
On December 31, 1899, a Boxer group in Shandong kidnapped Reverend Sidney M. Brooks, a member of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, a missionary society of the Church of England, and beheaded him. He is often considered the first foreign casualty in the Boxer Uprising.
May 1900: The Boxers were summoned to Beijing by Cixi and some of the princes and nobles employed their services to guard their residences. The Boxers were encouraged by a court decree to cut the railway line between Beijing and Tianjin.
Internal systemic problems
Tianjin Massacre 1872. when a French consul shot a Chinese magistrate, a riot ensued of Cathedrals being burnt down and 60 fatalities. showed the Western powers that a powerful military influence was needed
By the 19th century, it is estimated that a direct magistrate, the lowest level official responsible for all local administration, might be responsible for as many as 250,000 people
1898 flood affected more than a million people. it was followed by a huge famine in 1900
Governor Zhang Rumei neglected dyke maintenance - and was slow to organise relief forces after the flood of 1898.
Kucheng Massacre 1895
By the end of the 19th century over 100 treaty ports had been established in China, by countries such as GB, France, Austria, Portugal, Russia (who sought to extend the Trans-Siberian Railway to Port Arthur).
The Boxer mantra was ‘Support the Qing, Destroy the Foreigner’
In 1899 The local governor of Shandong, one of the conservative allies of the Dowager Empress, recruited Boxers as militia in an attempt to oppose more German expansion in his province. This can be seen as a catalyst.
The roots of the rebellion lay in Boxer links to the White Lotus Society and other groups such as the Big Sword Society.
Strong folklore tale of the Bandits of Mount Liang who overcame unjust systems. The model for the young was to look for ways to achieve the right even if it was outside of the law.
Jan. 1900: Empress Dowager Cixi rescinds condemnation of Boxers, issues edict of support but two weeks later orders for prohibition (not really enforced).
Western Power Weakness
The Seymour Expedition June 1900. 2066 men.
Railroad between Tietsin and Peking was heavily damaged by the boxers
The expedition fought its largest battle over the village of Peitsang, taking it on 21 June. But the cost was more killed and wounded. The latter became both a moral and physical burden for Admiral Seymour. They were fortunate enough to find a largely unguarded Hsiku Arsenal where they hunkered down waiting for rescue. 2000 men may have perished had they not found the arsenal.
Key moments
June 20, 1900: Manchu Bannerman Captain En Hai kills Minister von Ketteler in a melee to avenge the murdered "Boxer" boy.
June 16, 1900: Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu hold council meeting, decide to fully support Boxers.
June 20-Aug. 14, 1900: Boxers and Chinese Imperial Army besiege legations sheltering 473 foreign civilians, 400 foreign soldiers, and approximately 3,000 Chinese Christians.
July 17, 1900: Eight-Nations relief force lands on the coast, begins the march to Beijing
July 13-14, 1900: Also 120 km (75 miles) outside Beijing, Battle of Tientsin is ongoing(Tianjin) 50,000 troops; Eight-Nations relief force besieges Boxer-held city, 550 Boxers and 250 foreigners killed. Foreign troops (especially Germans and Russians) rampage through city afterward, looting, raping and killing civilians, while Japanese and Americans try to restrain them.
Battle of Tianjin
The boxers only had limited support within China. It was regional. The southern provinces showed their jealousy and dislike of the government in the north by refusing to corporate with the anti-foreign challenge.
Lack of leadership. Incohesive force with ambiguous common purpose. 100,000 fighters.
The chinese gentry, stuck in traditionalism never gave the boxers their full backing
The leadership was very much incohesive. There were numerous different sorts of army operating for the Boxers or for the imperials. E.g Kansu irregulars (muslim army), the Tenacious. These were all meant to be commanded by Jung-Lu
Leadership
The Eight nation alliance of 1900 was crucial. Last time the major powers cooperated before WWI
Governor of Shandong Yuan Shikai declined Cixi’s request for the Qing army to fight alongside boxers and instead tried to crush them. Disunity.
China didn't possess the firepower
Despite an estimated 1.75 million men being trained in militias or green bands, very little fought.
Military
Relief forces
General Gaslees relief force
Britain could import troops such as the 1st Indian Brigade. Sepoys
9,000 Japanese troops and 24 guns
2,900 russian men
And many other countries
Seymours mission was the only largely unsuccessful part of the campaign
The boxers obviously thought they were immune to bullets.
War crimes. 53 children were killed. 136 missionaries, 47 nuns/priests, 30k chinese catholics, 2k chinese protestants. 400 of the 700 russian orthodox chritians in beijing were killed.
Boxer Stregths.
Seymour
War crimes. 53 children were killed. 136 missionaries, 47 nuns/priests, 30k chinese catholics, 2k chinese protestants. 400 of the 700 russian orthodox chritians in beijing were killed. 15,000 local residents killed.
Battle at the Dagu Forts
The Allies had suffered 172 casualties among the 900 soldiers and sailors engaged after the Dagu fort battle. This was relatively impressive compared to previous battles. Heavily damaged numerous Russian gunboats. 1900
Giliak and another ship were severely damaged. 18 Russians were killed and 65 were wounded.
For emerging powers it was soverignty in China was crucial. Germany and Japan as new imperial powers. Germany in Shandong. France and Britain competing to be the biggest power.
Japense were ceded Taiwan and the Penghu Islands
Destroyed the Hanlin academy. They had incrediby strong defensive positions
The Boxer Protocol 1901
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£68 million in reparations: AH 1%, USA 7%, I 7%, JA 8%, UK 11%, FR 16%, GER 20%, RUS 29%
Chinese fortifications and arsenals were to be destroyed including the Dagu forts and 11 other points between Peking and the coast
Foreign troops permanently stationed in and around Beijing
Foreign powers entitled to defend their legations with their own powers
No chinese allowed to enter the legations without invitation
Captured boxer leaders executed or deported
Cixi was declared as a war criminal
Chinese gentry punished by having the state examination system suspended for 5 years. A key facet of chinese identity
Chinese government had to erect monuments of prominent foreigners who had died during the uprising
National Humiliation. One of the ten great treaties of humiliation
After the protocol was signed the war criminal charge was withdrawn, but little prestige remained. Profound humiliation. There was little popular sympathy.
affirmed international hostility towards China
Antagonism was deepened. Events were overemphasised by the media. ‘Wily Orientals’
'Yellow Peril' coined by the Germans
The US Marines were deployed.
France was bitter since the 1871 Franco-Prussian war
After the Battle of Tianjin and the Boxer Campaign as a whole the 8 nations were horrific in China, raping, razing, looting and killing
indemnity it charged them of 459 million silver taels, roughly 68 million pounds, was more than the entire income of the state at that time, and resulted in expenditures of the Qing being roughly 25% greater than income in the period.
Soverignty issues
In Manchuria, following the British japanese alliance of January 1902, both Russia and Japan claimed territory in the area, which due its higher economic output saw mass migration putting its population up to 15.4 million by 1911. This led to the Russo Japanese War 1904-1905
foreign powers didn't destory the Qing or Cixi becasue they were easy to exploit. she returned to Beijjing in a grand style which impressed foreigners. rest houses every 10 miles
Cixi's Winter Palace in Peking was occupied and looted by the Germans, and was burned down by officers later in 1901.
fear of further war was reduced by the USA’s second ‘Open Door Policy’ on 3rd July 1900. This obliged all signatories to preserve the ‘Chinese territorial and administrative entity’ and safeguard ‘for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire.’
On Sept.21, 1900 Russian forces seized Jilin and the Liaodong peninsula. By October, their forces had moved northward and occupied all of Manchuria. However much of thise was taken away and given to Japan
interest, would finally come to 982 million!
Political Discontent within China
In 1900, Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan 孫中山), who in 1895 was disgraced when his First National Uprising in Guangzhou failed now found that he was viewed as a hero by an ever-increasing percentage of the Chinese population. Intellectuals like Zhang Binglin started to denounce the Qing. this group and Tang Caichang led two groups (constitutionalists and revolutionaries)to cooperate with merchants in 1905 ot boycott american goods in protest of the exclusion laws, not allowing chinese immigration to the states
Zhengnanguan Uprising, Anqing Uprising
Japan inherits Liaodong peninsula and southern manchurian railway.
The economy grew fast in these areas due to its mineral reserves, agriculture and huge forests.
South manchuria railway, spanning 700 miles which could only be rode by Tokyo elites,who gained a 6% dividend from the company producing the rail off the backs of the Chinese people.
New gentry military forces in China. 175,000 men. Came from an educated class of recruits. 35 military schools opened. Middle class Chinamen were aggravated by the inefficiency of the Qing court. Provincialism
1910 285 uprisings that were mainly done by peasatns
Britain extended its Shanghai area and claimed more of the mainland near Hong Kong
France pushed inland from indo China following the victory in the Sino-French war 1884-95
Local food costs for barley wheat and pork doubled between 1880 and 1908
Late Qing Reforms
Germanny claimed Shandong
Societal and Educational
There was a big drive mounted against opium smoking. Cixis ten point plan 1906
The anti-opium drive provoked protests
There were violent demonstrations from farmers who relied on the crop for their livelihoods.demonstrations against grain_prices and taxes.
After one incident in Shandong there were 40,000 people, of whom 1,000 were killed in the subsequent repression.
Systemic reform
Creation of provisional assmeblies before a national assembly only exacerbated provincialism
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The Superintendency of Political Affairs (April 1901)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to replace the Zongli Yamen (July 1901)
The Ministry of Commerce (August 1903)
The Ministry of Education (December 1905)
Liang Qichao set up the Political Information Society that pressured constituational reform
New natural disasters such as teh Sichuan Famine led to increasred popularitry of secret socieities
In 1906 after a severe flooding on the Hunan-Jiangxi border, the Hong River society planned a revolt. 20,000 men went into action armed with swords etc.
It was only in August 1908 that the Court issued an ‘Outline of Constitution’ and then a further 9 years before it would be enforced!
This was after Representatives of 16 provinces went to beijing 3 times in 1910 to petition for a national parliament.
Zuo Rong, who published a pamphlet in the Subao paper which told the Chinese to “free themselves from 3000 years of oppression”
653 insurrections of varying size between 1896 and 1911.
Economic
China was obliged to get new foreign loans and commit more future revenue from customs, salt duties and other sources as collateral, impoverishing the state.
From 1900-1911, government spending doubled but income remained the same
The urban population leapt by 10% in 1893.
In 1904 the businessman community go satisfaction with the authorization of chambers of commerce which provided a forum to meet and lobby for modernization
Working conditions aggravated workers and strikes were common. Fifteen stoppages 1904-6 and 24 1909-11. In Hankou, 9k workers at a tea-brick factory went on strike and attacked a rival russian plant
The 1897 imperial bank had run into trouble when a wave of counterfeit notes from Japan started a run on the institution. In 1905 the Bank of teh Board of Households was established which later was known as teh Great Qing government bank, to counter the need for modern banking. In seven years the bank increased its deposits and loans seven-fold and paid shareholders dividends of up to 34%
From 1902-8 the country's revenue more than doubled. 100 million teals to 235 million.
Despite the improvement, economic expansion was limited by the size of the nation and the backward starting point. In 1911, China had only 600 enterprises using machinery. Chinese capital in modern ventures was just 6-7 percent of what was invested in agriculture.
shanghai , despite having a 345k population, its industrial workforce was only 76k.
Abolition of the government examinations (August 1905)
Educational reforms had created a new class of nationalistic Chinese students and intellectuals who were aware of the insincerity of Qing Reforms and had no voice in government. Revolutionary and anti-Qing politics appealed to them more.
Modern schools were set up: 35,787 in 1907. 87,272 in the next five years as pupil numbers trebelled to 2.9 million
1907 the government committed itself to female education. By 1911, 141,430 girl pupils in China.
In the middle Yangzi the evergreen Zhang Zhidong promoted agricultural innovations, engaging American specialists and experimenting with seeds.
Literacy was a prominent issue. Most elementary chinese could only be read and written by 1% of the population in 1900
Creation of provincial academies (August 1901)
Womens Rights
Shanghai had a womans chinese and western medical school etc. the Decree of 1902 lifted the ban on intermarriage but also outlawed footbinding. Cixi founded the School for Aristocratic Women. Cixi organised a play called Women Can be Patriots. 1907 Regulation for Women's education.
Promotion of railway construction (June 1901)
‘Great moral movement’ of Britain and China collaborating to stop the trade of opium.
Tea growing was hit by competition from India and Japan.
Ban on emigration abroad was lifted in 1893. 100k people left the port of Xiamen that year.
30 pro female liberation journals
Cixi’s “clan cabinet” in 1911 had 8 Manchu members of the 13, and 5 of them were her own family
Liang Qichao, the reformer in the 100 days reforms, wrote “ a new peoples miscellany” in which he advocated drastic changes while keeping the Qing on the throne.
1911 Tonghuimen had 10,000 members by 1911
Kang youwei set up private army (the Independent army), operating out of Hakuo, whilst the Tongmenhui sides with old secret societies to oppose to Qing.
practiced rights reclamation from the foreign powers giving the contracts to local businesses, such as the Hong railway in Southern Guangdong
refused to use western methods of trainsport such as railway becasue it was said to disrupt Feng Shui.
Red Lanterns
they had links to lots of other soceities such as teh White Lotus sect
The New guards stationed near Tietsin had Mausser rifles and Maxim machine guns and a variety of artillery pieces.
in December 1899 rewards were offered for arrests of anti-Christian organisations such as the Big Sword Society and there was also ambivalence in official policy.