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Welcome Letter Dear Delegates, Welcome to the 32nd annual North American Model United Nations Conference at the University of Toronto! I, and the rest of the NAMUN staff, look forward to working with you and seeing your impressive skills in negotiation, military strategy, political maneuvering, historical research and any other talents you may bring to the table. It is with my pleasure that I invite you to be a delegate in the 8 Nations Alliance Committee of the Boxer Rebellion Historical Crisis. You will be working closely with the NAMUN Crisis staff, as well as communicating with our fellow Boxer Rebellion Committee, the Qing court. As we turn back to the beginning of the 20th century, you will be able to influence not only China’s future, but also those of the international community. I look forward to discussing such topics as imperialism, clashing ideologies, religious differences, anti-foreign sentiments and much more. As for a bit of background on myself, I intend to pursue a double major in neuroscience and either history or international relations (I am a tad bit indecisive). This will be my fourth in Model United Nations, and my second year chairing a historical crisis committee. Since I’ve acted as a delegate in a previous Boxer Rebellion Historical simulation, I know what it is like to be in your shoes, and I am excited to be your committee chair this year! Below, you will find the background guide which briefly covers the historical background of the Boxer Rebellion, the main issues we will be dealing with in committee, and the state of affairs before our first committee meeting. I strongly suggest that you use this background guide as a preliminary source, and continue to do your own research, especially in respect your particular nation. I have provided a list of sources that you may find useful, but these are by no means the only sources that you may, or should look at. Physical sources may prove to be quite useful to you (as opposed to just online ones), as they often provide the depth, detail and analysis needed for our discussions. With that, I once again welcome you to NAMUN 2017 and I look forward to meeting you all! Andrea Ho Introduction The Boxer Rebellion is perhaps one of the most recognizable conflicts that epitomized anti-foreign and anti-imperialistic sentiments in China. However, the outbreak of the rebellion should not come as a surprise, as the conflict’s foundation lies deep within China’s internal strife during the nineteenth century. Various factors, ranging from conflicts with external powers to a restless population and from natural disasters to increasing foreign aggression, came together in the final years of the nineteenth century to form a perfect storm. Rumblings of a rebellion originally started in the late 1890s with a Chinese martial arts group known as the Yihe Quan, “Boxers United in Righteousness.”1 However, martial arts was a long standing tradition in Northern China. Previously, other societies such as the Dadaohui (“Big Sword Society”) and Shen Quan (“Spirit Boxers”) existed in the Shandong province, but eventually merged and became collectively known as the Yihe Quan. Later, local officials changed the group’s title from Yihe Quan to Yihe Tuan (“Militia United in Righteousness”) which, in turn, became the motto for the Boxer movement.2 Leading up to 1900, the international community became aware that the Boxers were carrying out a series of smaller attacks against foreign officials and missionaries that were publicly unsupported by the Qing government. However, in early 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi officially ordered Qing officials to cease any active repression of Boxer activities.3 By May 1900, a group of Boxers was advancing on Beijing from the countryside. On June 17th, an international relief force seized the Dagu forts on China’s coast, to restore access from Beijing to Jianjin. Shortly after, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the Boxers and Qing military to attack the foreign legation quarter and subsequently declared war on all the 1 Yingcong Dai, “Boxer Rebellion,” in Encyclopedia of Modern Asia, ed. Karen Christensen and David Levinson (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002), accessed September 7, 2016, http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/whic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Ref erence&zid=fef31521951aa5b80d2c5127989aed71&p=WHIC%3AUHIC&action=2&catId=&documentI d=GALE%7CCX3403700384&source=Bookmark&u=nort87507&jsid=c4e22e5eba218621a8a5b475c33 fb7b5. 2 Dai, “Rebellion.” 3 Martin, William A.P. The Siege in Peking: China Against the World. 1900. Reprint. (Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 1972), 71. Western powers.4 As a result, eight countries (Britain, United States, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, Italy and Austria-Hungary) formed an international relief force to alleviate the besieged foreign officials.5 By August 1900, the foreign powers had occupied Beijing, which led Cixi to flee with her court and take refuge in Xi’an.6 Negotiations resulted in an agreement named the “Boxer Protocol”. The key stipulations of this agreement involved indemnities, public apologies and that foreign armies be stationed at certain strategic points in Northern China. 4 Dai, “Rebellion.” 5 Dai, “Rebellion.” 6 Dai, “Rebellion.” Historical Background Geographic and Population Analysis: The Boxers seemed to have originated in the province of Shandong, in Northern China. The Shandong province was known for its wide expanses of flat land, “cereal” agriculture, dense populations and poverty-stricken villages.7 The area had the potential to thrive because the silt deposits from the Yellow River could contribute to good land for farming, but the province lacked proper irrigation infrastructure.8 Since the water could not be properly drained from the land, Shandong was nothing more than a salty plain, unable to support successful crops. Additionally, the province was ravaged by natural disasters including both droughts and famines. The Qing government had already spent money on military expeditions to Burma and Nepal in the 18th century, so there was no monetary support for agricultural development.9 Moreover, west of Jinan, an imperial highway, which ran north-south, was used constantly by invading armies. As a result, the local population was constantly subjected to devastation inflicted by these armies,10 and bore the brunt of the destructive nature of the conflicts. Around 95% of Shandong’s population remained peasants,11 and social mobility was not feasible. The impoverished population led to the rise of banditry, because many people had no other option.12 And since majority of the population lived in poverty, only a few wealthy families existed, who then became easy targets for bandits. These families then turned to increasingly militaristic means to defend themselves, which made room for the development and training of local militia.13 Opium exchange and salt smuggling also developed throughout the province, though the popularity of those commodities varied 7 Joseph W. Esherick, The Origins of the Boxer Uprising (Berkeley: University of California, 1987), 2. 8 Esherick, Origins, 2. 9 David J. Silbey, The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China (New York: Hill and Wang, 2012). Silbey, Great Game, 22. 10 The various conflicts that used this imperial highway included the Mongol Invasion, Yong-Le’s takeover of the Ming Throne, the Manchu Invasion and the Taiping rebellions. Esherick, Origins, 16. 11 Esherick, Origins, 2. 12 Esherick, Origins, 18. 13 Esherick, Origins, 23. within the province itself.14 Additionally, due to the migrant nature of the population, the Shandong citizens were generally open to new ideas, and it was easy for various ideologies to become popular.15 Lastly, there were very few Christian gentry in the region, which meant there was less support for foreign religious beliefs. When one combines such factors as desolate land, an impoverished and possibly corrupt population, and a lack of strong support for Christianity, one can see why the Boxer rituals spread so quickly.16 Figure 1: Shandong Province, the origin of the Boxer Rebellion, in relation to Beijing1 Boxer Culture and Popular Culture: The rise of the Boxers would not have been so immediate if the rituals among the Boxers did not strike “some familiar chord”17 among the farmers. The Shandong people had a well-established martial arts culture, and were known for their bravery,18 so it was easy for the population to accept the Boxers’ martial arts practices. Those who knew martial arts became invaluable and important defenders of the community, especially since the environment was becoming much more dangerous. Additionally, spiritualistic 14 Esherick, Origins, 21. 15 Esherick, Origins, 27. 16 Esherick, Origins, 28. 17 Esherick, Origins, 38. 18 Esherick, Origins, 45. rituals had historical roots, since in the Zhou dynasty, there were various shamans who practiced “spiritual-possession,” and even Daoist priests were known for their incantations.19 Only the Qing government saw practices involving incantations as heterodoxy,20 but in the eyes of the common people, it was something very familiar. And as time continued, heterodoxy became more familiar until there was no longer a distinction between heterodoxy and normal culture. Thus, the Boxers’ ideology was “perfectly understandable in terms of the popular culture of the West Shandong peasantry”.21 And since Boxer culture was so popular, it was easy for its practices and tenets to spread across the province in the a very short amount of time.22 Missionary Activity in Shandong: Active missionary work first began in Shandong in the 1630s when the Jesuit conversions first became popular.23 At some point in the late 17th century, Catholic conversions began to take place in the Norwest Shandong areas, and by 1854, France negotiated an edict that promised toleration for Christianity from the Dao-Guan emperor.24 In the following years, the number of converts increased substantially across Shandong and the rest of China.
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