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HISTORY
Course Name
:
History
Paper No.
:
Paper- VIII
History of China
Unit, Chapter
:
Unit- 1
Chapter- 4
Topic No. & Title
:
Part- 2
The Boxer Rebellion 2
(For under graduate student.)
History of China – Boxer Rebellion II
Composition of the Boxers
The Boxers had developed their own organizational set up. It
is notable that they avoided the fixed hierarchy under a single
leader, which had divided and weakened the Taiping. Even so,
various people in succession managed to set up a sort of
overall regional leadership. For example, in Shantung, there
were Zhu, a seller of plasters and Ben Ming, a monk; in
Chihli, there was Zhang, a former boatman, and others. Thus
there was hardly any basic unit consisting of supporters from
one or more villages.
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The social background of the Yi Ho-tuan was highly diverse.
Alhough 70% of the rebels consisted of peasants, there were
also dislocated artisans and labourers, boatmen, carters,
porters and coolies—who had lost their livelihood with the
advent of the new modes of transport—as also soldiers
dismissed from the army, priests and monks, shenshi and
various declassed elements. Some local officials, being hostile
to foreigners, encouraged the anti-foreign struggles of the
Boxers in a bid to divert the wrath of the masses from the
Chinese feudal lords.
The diverse social background of the Boxers left a mark on
their political programme as manifested in the inscriptions on
the battle-standards, their proclamations, leaflets and songs.
Their
chief
goal
undoubtedly
was
to
combat
foreign
aggression. They declared: “We are learning the sacred
devices of fist-fighting to defend China and drive out the
overseas plunderers”. The Chinese Christian converts were
seen as traitors. “If there are still Christians in any village,
they should be driven out at once, and the churches and
other premises belonging to them should be burnt to ashes”,
they declared. In coming to grips with the foreigners, the Yi
Ho-tuan relied chiefly on the aid of saints, talismans and
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spells. “We pronounce spells and recite the word of Buddha,
we burn yellow paper and incense, summoning saints from
their caves” said one proclamation. “The saints leave their
caves, the spirits come down from the mountains; they enter
mortal men, and teach them the devices of the qualm. Upon
learning the art of fighting, we shall easily subdue the foreign
devils”.
Epidemics,
absence
of
rain
and
other
natural
calamities were ascribed to the presence of foreigners.
There were special units of women. As for example, there
were Red Lanterns for girls between 12 and 18; Blue Lanterns
for middle-aged wives; Black Lanterns for older wives and
Green lanterns for widows. Members of the Red Lanterns
formed shock teams which always wanted to be in the
forefront of struggle. Jean Chesneaux says that the existence
of secret societies consisting only of women is probably a sign
of the acuteness of the social crisis and the decline of the
family tradition even in the countryside.
As the Boxers constituted a national fighting band, they also
formed their military set-up and maintained strict discipline.
They were closely united and obeyed orders. In battle, ten
fighters formed a pan)squad), headed by a shih chang(head
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of ten). Ten pan made a ta tui(brigade), headed by a pai
chang(head of a hundred).
Boxer rebellion spreads by leaps and bounds
Initially, the Boxers were regarded as bands organized for
self-defence that posed no particular threat to the state.
However, the movement soon threatened to become an antidynastic as well as anti-foreign rebellion. In October 1898,
the Boxers broke into a rebellion in Guanxian; but this was
ultimately suppressed. But it soon spread to other areas. By
March 1900, the whole Baoding-Tientsin region was in the
hands of the Boxers. Soon, Peking became the centre of the
Boxer movement, which won control of Tientsin as well as
spread throughout Hunan, Shansi, Inner Mongolia and the
North-West. Secret societies became active in the Yangtzi
Valley. Agrarian disturbances broke out again in the south.
The whole country was in turmoil.
One of the main slogans of the Boxers was “exterminate the
foreigners”—a benner they raised in Shantung. In the spring
of 1900 the Yi Ho Tuan sent members from Shantung into
Chihli to make contact with local units and scored a decisive
victory over the Ching cavalry unit that had been proceeding
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towards Shihting. They then found their way into Peking and
put up anonymous posters to create an atmosphere for an
“exterminate the foreigners” campaign. The most popular of
those posters read as follows: “Most bitterly do we hate the
treaties which harm the country and bring calamities on the
people. High officials betray the nation. Lower ranks follow
suit. The people find no regress for their grievances”. They
charged the official traitors with “collaborating with the
foreigners, currying their favour, bowing low to the powerful
and tyrannizing over the plain people”. By these popular
propaganda methods, the Boxers inspired mass movements
of a militant nature.
In early June 1900, “exterminate the foreigners” posters and
slogans filled Peking. The Yi Ho Tuan began to enter in groups
of 30 or 50 with the knowledge of the patriotic guards at the
city gates. The fighters with red turbans on their heads, red
girdles on their waists, their shoes and socks decorated with
red borders, took to the streets with broad sword or long
spears. More and more contingents entered the capital and
were joined by tens of thousands of handicraftsmen and the
city poor. They took control of the city, stationed fighters at
imperial palaces, government offices, interrogated passers-by
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of dubious identity by day and night and held frequent
demonstrations at day and night. They also persuaded the
people not to buy “imported goods” and to throw kerosene
lamps out into the street, spilling the “foreign oil”. They also
issued warnings to shopkeepers dealing in “foreign articles”
and also set fire to Western drug stores. In fact, the Chinese
nationalists had given the call for the boycott of foreign goods
years before Bengal gave the similar call against British goods
during the anti-Partition campaign of 1905.
When the Boxers rose in Shantung, the people of Tientsin
organized a similar movement, distributing posters, spreading
propaganda in the form folk sayings. They issued calls to join
the
anti-imperialist
struggle
and
enlisted
the
active
participation of the peasants in the countryside and that of
handicraftsmen and transport workers in the cities. “Shrines”
were set up in various places and military training for battle
against imperialism began in right earnest.
At the time of demonstrations, the national spirit of the Yi Ho
Tuan was manifested not only in their armed struggle against
the enemies, but also in the way they stood up with their held
high in the face of the powers-that-be. The Ching ruling
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classes were brought down from the high pedestal they had
for centuries taken to be quite natural. Bold, dignified and
without any trace of sycophancy, they made the foreign
aggressors shake in their boots and demolished the arrogance
of the Ching officials, high and low. When the Boxers met
officials in the street, they would order those riding in sedanchairs to step down and those on horseback to dismount and
stand obediently to one side with bared heads. Thus they
stripped the last shreds of prestige from those who had
ridden roughshod over the people for such a long time in the
semi-feudal, semi-colonial society. In this way with the
support of millions of people, the Yi Ho Tuan could engulf the
entire Peking-Tientsin area.
The
spread
of
the
rebellion
from
Shantung
to
Chihli
stimulated people in other parts of the country to action.
China‟s three northeastern provinces, as well as Shansi, Inner
Mongolia and Honan
Military intervention by imperialist powers
The foreign governments took alarm. To suppress the
movement,
eight
imperialist
powers—Britain,
the
USA,
France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy and Ahstria-Hungary—
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joined hands in a war of aggression against China. There were
several resaons behind this. First, if the boxers were not
suppressed, then the privileges extracted by the foreign
powers in China and their aspirations for further inroads
would come to a naught. Second, they were alarmed at the
prospect of the movement attaining success, as that would
have serious repercussions in other colonies. That would act
as an inspiration for other people to shake off foreign control
altogether. Henry Adams, the American politician, lamented in
a letter to John Hay, the US secretary of state, that “the
Chinese rising may react on Persia and Central Asia, and start
off a general Mahometan outbreak”( Letters of Henry Adams,
1892-1918, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1938,p.290).
In that case, there would be the end of colonial rule as a
whole. Thirdly, it was also felt by the foreign powers that by
launching this new war, they would be able to tighten their
grip over the Manchu rulers and extract more privileges out of
it.
These were the considerations that made them afraid that the
results achieved by half a century of political and commercial
penetration might be swept away. At the beginning of August
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1900, the international troops consisting of 16,000 men from
Japan, Russia, Britain, USA, Germany, France, Austria and
Italy were concentrated in Tientsin. The systematic slaughter
and plunder in the rebel areas, despite stiff resistance from
the rebel
Forces finally brought the uprising to an end. The imperial
palace was occupied by the foreigners and most of its
resources were plundered. The British, the Germans, the
Russians, the Americans and the French went on a looting
spree. Not only did countless Chinese people lose their
families and property. At the same time, colossal wealth and
immense collection of art treasures amassed by the ruling
dynasties over a long period also were looted. Japanese
troops stationed in the imperial palace removed all they could
to Japan. The Russians plundered the Yi Luan Palace in
Chungnahai, then destroyed what was left behind. A large
number of ancient bronzes, porcelains, jade objects, carvings,
scientific instruments, books, paintings etc. representing
China‟s long national culture, were either carried off or
destroyed. The Yung Lo Encyclopaedia or the 307 volumes
comprising the small remnant of that series associated with
the reign of Yung Lo Emperor(1403-24) in the Ming dynasty,
was again seized, after being plundered earlier by the Anglo-
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French forces in the Second Opium War(1856-60). According
to the Chinese accounts, more than 46,000 rare books were
stolen by the invading armies. The united armies also burnt,
murdered and raped. Waldersee, the head of the allied army,
had to admit: “Unfortunately the looting has not failed to be
attended by other excesses: outrages on women, barbarities
of all descriptions, murder, wanton acts of incendiarism,
etc.”(Count Alfred von Waldersee, A Field-Marshall’s Memoirs,
London 1924,p.221).
Consequences of the Boxer Rebellion
On 7 September 1901, the Protocol of 1901 was signed by
Yikuang and Li Hung-chang as representatives of the Ching
government and by the envoys of 11 countries—the USA,
Britain, Russia, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, AustriaHungary,
Spain,
Belgium
and the
Netherlands. It
was
undoubtedly a humiliating deed of sale into slavery for China.
The gist of the text, supplemented by 19 annexes, is as
follows:
1. Extortion of an enormous indemnity: The indemnity
totalled an unbelievable sum of 450,000,000 taels of
silver to be paid over 39 years. Add to this the interest
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which came to 982,000,000 taels. Local indeminities to
be
paid
by
the
provinces
amounted
to
a
further
20,000,000 taels. The Protocol provided that payment
should be secured by three sources viz, the receipts of
the Maritime Customs and Salt Gabelle(salt tax bureau)
and the “Regular” and “Native” customs collected by the
Ching government at land and water communication
points or trade centres.
2. Military Supervision: The Protocol stipulated that the
Chinese government raze the forts at Taku as well as
those between Taku and Peking; and that foreign troops
be stationed at 12 strategic points along the railways
from Shanhaikuan to Peking. The city of Tientsin, one of
the centres of resistance, was converted into a a military
base of the imperialist powers for surveillance over the
Manchu government.
3. Establishment of the headquarters for aggression against
China: The Protocol stipulated the establishment in
Peking of the “legation quarter” where the Chinese would
be debarred from living and foreign troops would be
stationed. This naturally created “a state within the
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state”—foreign enclaves, from which the foreign powers
could intrigue and interfere in China‟s internal affairs.
4. Suppression of the Chinese people’s anti-imperialist
struggle: According to the terms of the agreement, the
chief „offenders‟ i.e, those who supported the Yi Ho Yuan,
were punished by death or exile. To penalize the
scholars, the examinations were suspended for 5 years in
45 districts where the Boxers had been active. Antiforeign societies were forbidden. China agreed to pay an
indemnity of 450 million taels. Several forts between
Peking and the sea were to be razed to the ground and
China forfeited the right to import arms for two years.
The Protocol clauses were a flagrant interference in the
domestic affairs of China. The indemnity was an enormous
drain on national finances and removed all possibility of real
economic development in the country. And the foreign
diplomatic
corps
in
Peking
became
a
sort
of
super-
government which decided the fate of the empire regardless
of the Court‟s wishes.
Aims and Achievements of the Boxers
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As the Boxers were crushed much more quickly than the
Taiping, the Boxer did not have time to draw up a complete
political and social programme. There is no doubt that the
Boxers fought above all against the foreigners; however,
there was among them divergence of attitude towards the
Manchus. While some supported the Manchus, others opposed
them altogether. As for example, some groups connected with
the White Lotus Sect did aim at overthrowing the Manchus.
This divergence of goals sometimes led to violent clashes
between different groups of Boxers; but overthrowing the
Manchus became the rallying-cry of all those who continued
their resistance after August 1900. The Chinese historian, Hu
Sheng in his book, Imperialism and Chinese Politics maintains
that the feudal aristocratic rulers gave no real support to the
people‟s patriotic movement and that the Boxer movement
against the aggressors was not in alliance but at loggerheads
with the feudal autocracy.
The social programme of the Boxers apparently went little
further than a rudimentary redistribution of plunder seized
from the rich. The Boxers‟ alliance with the Manchus certainly
hampered the expression of social demands. Some Chinese
historians contend that the crucial conflict of the time was
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between the Chinese nation and foreign imperialism and that
the Boxers formed a united front so as to concentrate all
efforts against the foreign invasion.
In the opinion of G.Dunstheimer, the Boxer movement was on
the dividing line between two historical eras: the Chinese
Middle Ages—that is to say, pre-industrial society—and
modern times. As the Boxers were steeped in religion, magic
as well as their military training and weapons, their mentality
belonged to the Middle Ages. In so far as they embodied a
defence against modernization and in the process borrowed
the general concepts of traditional society, they obtained the
approval of the privileged members of that society. However,
the modernization against which they had been fighting was a
modernization
accomplished
to
serve
foreign
enemy.
Chesneaux holds that in the world of the early 20th century,
the Boxer movement was above all the first great movement
against modern colonialism. The Boxers demonstrated the
existence and strength of Chinese popular nationalism and in
the face of intense public opposition, the Western powers
abandoned their intensions to slice up the territory of China.
The Nature of the Boxer Rebellion
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In order to properly analyse the nature of the Boxer rebellion,
it
is
better
to
make
a
comparison
with
the
Taiping
rebellion(1851-64). In a broader sense, both the Taiping and
the Boxer rebellions took place in the same historical period,
i.e., in the second half of the 19th century. The first took place
in the first lag of the second half of the 19th, while the second
took place in the end. In the case of both, foreign imperialist
penetration played a major, if not the decisive role. Although
there were some points of resemblance between the two, the
aspect
of
differences
contradictions
were
reflected
was
in
more
the
numerous.
context,
These
leadership,
followers, ideology and in the nature.
One interesting feature is that although both the revolts took
place in the context of imperialist penetration into China, the
Taipings
were
influenced
by
the
protestant
Christian
missionaries while the Boxers‟ main targets of attack were the
missionaries themselves. The probable reason behind this
paradox is that the fact that many missionaries had been
assisting western intrusion from behind was more apparent
during the time of the latter rebellion (the Taiping) than
during the time of the former (the Boxer).
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There was a centralized leadership during the Taiping. Hung
Hsiu-chuan was the supreme leader followed by Shi Ta-kai,
Wei, Feng and others down the ladder. The Boxers, on the
other hand, did not have such central command; it had only
regional leadership like Zhu or Ben Ming of Shantung or Jhang
of Chihli and others. At the same time, during the Boxer
revolt, their organization, Yi Ho Tuan or „Righteous and
Harmonious Militia‟ played the major role.
In the case of both, the women played an active role. We
come to know of the existence of separate women‟s units in
both the rebellions. However, as compared to the Taipings,
women‟s army was more organized. They were split up into
sections depending on their age such as the „Red Lantern‟,
„Black Lantern‟, „Green Lantern‟ etc.
There is no denying the fact that both the rebellions were the
products of a particular socio-economic crisis and that crisis
was exacerbated by imperialist penetration. Despite this,
there was a clear gap of more than three decades between
the Taiping and the Boxer and this gap lay at the root of the
difference between the two, despite similarities of other kinds.
Before the Opium War (1840-42), Western capitalism was in
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the stage of merchant capitalism and that was the instrument
of Western exploitation of China. But after the Opium War,
industrial capitalism came to the fore and at the turn of the
19th century when the Boxers took up arms, it had already
entered the stage of finance capitalism. It is true that the
pressure of the Western world was felt on the Chinese
society, economy and politics; however, this influence and
foreign aggression were more intense during the Boxer
rebellion than ever before. Judging by the nature, the Taiping
rebellion was basically anti-Manchu and anti-feudal, while the
Boxer was basically anti-missionary and anti-imperialist. At
the same time, when the Taipings stood against the opium
trade, they in fact stood against foreign aggression. Side by
side, anti-Manchu elements existed also among the Boxers.
Thus it is clear that anti-feudal and anti-imperialist aspects
were embedded in both the rebellions. The difference is that
in the case of the Taipings, anti-Manchu, anti-feudal aspect
was more primary and the anti-imperialist aspect was
secondary. On the other hand, in the case of the Boxers, antimissionary, anti-imperialist aspect was primary while the
anti-Manchu, anti-feudal aspect was secondary. To put more
clearly, what was primary for one was secondary for the
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other, and what was secondary for one was primary for the
other.