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The Boxers

© John Walsh

China, at the end of the C19th, was in a terrible state. Its economy was being wholly undermined by the forced entry of western manufactures. Its culture was threatened by the forced sale of opium to millions of its people and the presence of westerners and other foreigners who operated without regard for Chinese laws and customs was a constant source of frustration and rage. Further, Christian missionaries seemed to be everywhere. When the missionaries found it difficult to find converts, they resorted to bribery in terms of cold cash and promises of the same immunity to the law they themselves enjoyed. Xenophobia became rife. It was fanned by the Boxers, one of several related groups which were heir to China's long history of such groups. The Boxers were more properly known as the Righteous and Harmonious Fists, on account of the military calisthenics that formed part of their culture. The Boxers, as they were somewhat inaccurately described by foreigners, combined physical and spiritual exercise with various metaphysical beliefs that became embroiled with the desire to free China from the impurities represented by foreigners and their influence. From there, it was but a short step to violent demonstration.

The Chinese authorities had somewhat ambivalent feelings towards the Boxer uprisings that flared across the country. While unrest was always feared, the desire to do something about the humiliation inflicted by the foreigners was strong. The boxers fought against regional warlords whose powers had waxed with the almost-complete breakdown of strong central authority but they were encouraged by the throne itself. After groups of Boxers appeared in Tientsin and Beijing, the Dowager Empress Cixi declared her support for their actions, since the foreigners 'had trampled our people under their feet.'

Emboldened, the Boxers attacked Christian missions and Christian converts up to 1900, burying some alive, while also attempting to destroy all western holdings. Cixi declared was on all foreign powers - who responded by amassing an unstoppable army of 20,000 men to relieve the siege of the western quarter in Beijing. The capital city was then given to plunder and rape by the western armies. Hundreds of Chinese women, fearful (rightly) of being violated by these foreigners, committed suicide by jumping into wells. The slaughter was huge. The Dowager Empress fled with the young Emperor and the Chinese government was forced into another humiliating settlement - the Boxer Settlement - as part of which China had to pay indemnities of 450 million ounces of silver - twice the state's annual revenue, over the course of 40 years, with interest.

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