© www.roydonng.com

The Boxer

Rebellion

In China

Year 11 Modern

History

Roydon Ng

© www.roydonng.com

“To what extent were Western interests in China responsible for the Boxer Uprising?”

2

While both sides jostled in the Boxer uprising over the issues of power and influence, the Eight-Power

Alliance fought for economic reasons while the Chinese fought to restore its own institutions. With

the Western nations’ swift modernisation during the 1800s and China’s continual refusal to accept

reform, the Chinese people bore much of the price from a stubborn Qing. Having held the Emperor

under virtual house arrest, the Dowager CiXi turned a blind eye to China’s internal issues rather to

exploit her power through a life of luxury. As the corruption and tatters of the Qing became apparent

Western nations took advantage of their opportunities to partition China. Such events further fuelled

the already anti-foreign and xenophobic Chinese population in rebelling against the foreign fist which

had gripped China for the many past decades.

As the two worlds with one on the East and the other on the West all thinking that they are the best in

the world. China stalled whilst the West advanced through industrialisation. China, a civilisation of over

four millennia being the “Middle Kingdom” placed itself above foreign “barbarians” with only the gods’

superior to it. China’s “relative isolation from the outside world made possible over the centuries the

flowering and refinement of the Chinese culture.”1 The surge of foreigners wanting “trade” with China

was perceived by the Chinese as a further parasite on society as Chinese merchants were situated on

the bottom of the social classes. “It was only under the impact of the West, in the nineteenth century

that this system began to fall apart.”2 Foreigners being upset at the use of silver began trading opium for

Chinese goods leading to the Opium Wars in which the Qing were defeated and subjugated to unequal

treaties. The Opium Wars left China racked with burdens of indemnity payments and loss of control over

much of its coastal regions, including the concession of Hong Kong to the British and forfeit of Korea,

Formosa, Vietnam and Burma to foreign powers. Through the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 – 1895 which

highlighted China’s obsolete defences and backwardness, foreign nations leapt to plunder a dynasty in

decline. Western nations applied a policy of “carving up the Chinese melon”3 and not to “permit the

Chinese keeping China to themselves”.4 The Chinese interpreted this as an exploitation of their country

and an incompetent Qing.

China being hit with a plague of natural disasters, volatility and Western demands highlighted the

decline of the Qing. The weakened corrupt Qing Court unable to halt the foreign advancements as a sign

of the fading “Mandate of Heaven” face the Taiping Uprising of 1850 to 1964 led by the Chinse Christian

convert Hong Xiuquan although unsuccessful highlighted the effects of missionary activity thus enraging

the Qing. Conditions for the Chinese and even government posts were in severe disorder as “officials

regarded each position as an opportunity to increase their personal fortune”5. Intellectuals such as Kang

Youwei lobbied Emperor Guangxu whom supported the “Hundred Days of Reform” where proposals for

a constitutional monarchy and renewal of Confucian ideas as pro-reformist were considered. CiXi being

self-centred and narrowed minded and already “imprisoning” the Emperor dismissed all reforms and

squandered a vital opportunity for China to step forward. The Chinese people dismayed at the

stubbornness of the “foreign” Manchu Qing, began forming bands of militias to deal with China’s issues.

1 “Everyone you need to know about the Middle Kingdom” Tuvy.com (Online) (2011) 10 March 2011,

http://www.tuvy.com/Countries/chinese/chinese.htm 2 “History of the Chinese Political System, continued" Harvard.edu (Online) (2011) 10 March 2011,

http://athome.harvard.edu/programs/macfarquhar/macfarquhar_video/pages/macfarquhar_printview.html 3 “Case Study: The Boxer Rebellion”. docshare.com (Online). (2009 ).13 March 2011,

http://www.docshare.com/doc/160497/The-Boxer-Rebellion 4 Preston. D. (2001) The Boxer Rebellion, Berkley Publishing Group (Chapter 1)

5 Buggy, T. (1988) The Long Revolution, a History of Modern China, Shakespeare Head Press, NSW (Page 26)

“To what extent were Western interests in China responsible for the Boxer Uprising?”

3

As Westerners continued to dissect China with its economic and technological differences but more

significantly through its new “barbaric” religious system of Christianity now threatened the “face” of not

only of entire families and ancestors but the entire Chinese nation. In 1860, the Qing reluctantly granted

permission for Western missionaries to preach Christianity and acquire property for churches and

cathedrals. This unwanted presence of missionaries whom were the most despised group of foreigners

quickly aroused Chinese anger. The Qing faced an increasingly xenophobic population with its own

authority being questioned internally and by the foreigners who did little to improve relations through

its continual importation of opium and other contraband goods. "The wealth of China is used to profit

the barbarians..."6 As a result of such foreign ideas a peasant organisation named the “Righteous

Harmony Society Movement” which aimed to rid their country of all foreign influences that were

"lacerating China like tigers”7 and had disrespected the Chinese population, traditions and their

ancestors. By 1899, the anti-foreign momentum had taken China by storm with a new and dangerous

faction known as the Boxers.

Western interests expressed through missionaries challenging the basis of Chinese civilisation, the

opium importation destroying Chinese potential and unequal treaties with adjoining territorial

concessions further strained relations with the Qing and Chinese people. The humiliation of the Chinese

as a result of the semi-colonisation of China by foreigners and the “inexistent” Qing unable to support its

own people led to revolts which further weakened China. With an economic and military deficit, the

Qing relied on militias to press for its survival and what started as a cover up campaign against the reign

of the Eight-Power Alliance. The effect on the Chinese population from Western exploits include: anti-

foreignism led by the Shensi whom felt that their status were threatened, rationalistic warlords who

were only loyal to the Emperor by name and ruin of Chinese industries during a period of natural

disasters leading to accusations of foreigners being the cause of such calamities. The role of CiXi cannot

be underestimated as she led the demise of good administrative order in China causing a follow through

effect of corruption with the weakening of the social order and “permissiveness” to Western interests.

CiXi’s personal feelings of hatred towards foreigners contributed to her support of the Boxers as she

recalled how “she had been forced to leave the capital when Anglo-French forces invaded Peking in

1860”.8

The Boxer Uprising is the result of one of the greatest uses of proxies and rebellion against the

misunderstanding of nations, the Qing dynasty corruptly fumbled Western interests in its “Middle

Kingdom”. In failing to properly care for its own people, the Manchu Qing paved the way for the Chinese

nation to be dissected, along with a severe erosion of tradition which ultimately brought China to its

knees within a decade of the initial rebellion. The seeds of the Boxer Rebellion could not be aligned to

one factor but a series of mistakes from the Qing and unprovoked greed of Western interests which

resulted in promoting the rise of the Boxers. Yet as a defeat for the Chinese, it became a crucial stepping

stone for the fall of Imperial Rule and the eventual modernisation of China.

6 Lin Zexu’s moral advice to Queen Victoria, 1839

7 “History of The United States Chapter XX America, A World Power (1865-1900)” third-millennium-library.com

(Online). (2011). 13 March 2011 http://bit.ly/eAolpH (www.third-millennium-library.com) 8 “Boxer Uprising / Movement (1900) 義和團運動” thecorner.org (Online) by Philip Woo, 1980. Adapted

by TK Chung. http://www.thecorner.org/hist/china/boxer.htm 13 March 2011

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