The ruler of China, Empress Dowager Cixi (Tzu Hsi), had a dilemma. The Boxers were a lawless uprising, and yet Cixi and the Boxers shared a vision: a China free of Western influence.
tirsdag 3. september 2024
From China's Past: The Boxer Rebellion. Bluejackets and Marines in China, 1900–1901
The Boxers’ first targets were not foreigners, but Chinese Christians. Local Chinese resented their neighbors who had converted, labeling them as “rice Christians,” driven not by faith but by the resources and power provided by the churches. Initial Boxer attacks included the burning of churches, but escalated into gruesome, ritualistic murders of Chinese Christians. The event that drew the eyes of the West was the beating and beheading of British missionary Reverend Sidney Brooks in December 1899. However, missionaries weren’t the only ones in danger. Boxers targeted foreign railway workers and merchants—men who personified the Western disruption of Chinese society.
The ruler of China, Empress Dowager Cixi (Tzu Hsi), had a dilemma. The Boxers were a lawless uprising, and yet Cixi and the Boxers shared a vision: a China free of Western influence.
The ruler of China, Empress Dowager Cixi (Tzu Hsi), had a dilemma. The Boxers were a lawless uprising, and yet Cixi and the Boxers shared a vision: a China free of Western influence.
