DOCSLIB.ORG

BR The-Eight-Nation-Alliance.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
BR The-Eight-Nation-Alliance.Pdf 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.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Making the State on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier: Chinese Expansion and Local Power in Batang, 1842-1939
    Making the State on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier: Chinese Expansion and Local Power in Batang, 1842-1939 William M. Coleman, IV Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2014 © 2013 William M. Coleman, IV All rights reserved Abstract Making the State on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier: Chinese Expansion and Local Power in Batang, 1842-1939 William M. Coleman, IV This dissertation analyzes the process of state building by Qing imperial representatives and Republican state officials in Batang, a predominantly ethnic Tibetan region located in southwestern Sichuan Province. Utilizing Chinese provincial and national level archival materials and Tibetan language works, as well as French and American missionary records and publications, it explores how Chinese state expansion evolved in response to local power and has three primary arguments. First, by the mid-nineteenth century, Batang had developed an identifiable structure of local governance in which native chieftains, monastic leaders, and imperial officials shared power and successfully fostered peace in the region for over a century. Second, the arrival of French missionaries in Batang precipitated a gradual expansion of imperial authority in the region, culminating in radical Qing military intervention that permanently altered local understandings of power. While short-lived, centrally-mandated reforms initiated soon thereafter further integrated Batang into the Qing Empire, thereby
    [Show full text]
  • Manchus: a Horse of a Different Color
    History in the Making Volume 8 Article 7 January 2015 Manchus: A Horse of a Different Color Hannah Knight CSUSB Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/history-in-the-making Part of the Asian History Commons Recommended Citation Knight, Hannah (2015) "Manchus: A Horse of a Different Color," History in the Making: Vol. 8 , Article 7. Available at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/history-in-the-making/vol8/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History at CSUSB ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in History in the Making by an authorized editor of CSUSB ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Manchus: A Horse of a Different Color by Hannah Knight Abstract: The question of identity has been one of the biggest questions addressed to humanity. Whether in terms of a country, a group or an individual, the exact definition is almost as difficult to answer as to what constitutes a group. The Manchus, an ethnic group in China, also faced this dilemma. It was an issue that lasted throughout their entire time as rulers of the Qing Dynasty (1644- 1911) and thereafter. Though the guidelines and group characteristics changed throughout that period one aspect remained clear: they did not sinicize with the Chinese Culture. At the beginning of their rule, the Manchus implemented changes that would transform the appearance of China, bringing it closer to the identity that the world recognizes today. In the course of examining three time periods, 1644, 1911, and the 1930’s, this paper looks at the significant events of the period, the changing aspects, and the Manchus and the Qing Imperial Court’s relations with their greater Han Chinese subjects.
    [Show full text]
  • FMS Persecuz.BOXERS INGL:Layout 1
    The China Martyrs of 1900 THE BOXER PERSECUTION SUMMARY 1 - A documents discovered ............................................ p. 5 2 - The Witnesses ................................................................ p. 6 3 - The Martyrs..................................................................... p. 8 4 - Historica and Social Setting....................................... p. 12 4.1 - China .................................................................... p. 12 4.2 - The Boxers........................................................... p. 13 4.3 - The Chinese Martyrs......................................... p. 15 4.4 - The Beijing Parishes .......................................... p. 17 5 - The Martyrs of the Parishes of Beijing ..................... p. 19 5.1 - The Martyrs of Si-t’ang ..................................... p. 19 5.2 - The Martyrs of Nan-t’ang ................................ p. 21 5.3 - The Martyrs of Tong-t’ang................................ p. 25 6 - The Martyrs of the villages around Beijing ............ p. 29 6.1 - The villages of Koan-t’eu, Ts’ai-Hu-Yng and Wa-Ts’iuen-Sze ............... p. 29 6.2 - The village of Yen-Tze-K’eou.......................... p. 30 6.3 - The villages of Tcheng-Fou-Sze, Heou-t’ouen, Si-Siao-K’eo and Eul-pouo-Tze........................ p. 35 7 - Sister Philómene Tchang ........................................... p. 39 The Boxer Persecution • 3 8 - The Yun Family ..............................................................p. 45 9 - Slaughter of the defensless ........................................p.
    [Show full text]
  • Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017
    Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017 Princeton Model United Nations Conference 2017 The Taiping Rebellion Chair: Nicholas Wu Director: [Name] 1 Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017 CONTENTS Letter from the Chair……………………………………………………………… 3 The Taiping Rebellion:.…………………………………………………………. 4 History of the Topic………………………………………………………… 4 Current Status……………………………………………………………….7 Country Policy……………………………………………………………… 9 Keywords…………………………………………………………………...11 Questions for Consideration………………………………………………...12 Positions:.………………………………………………………………………. 14 2 Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Dear Delegates, Welcome to PMUNC 2017! This will be my fourth and final PMUNC. My name is Nicholas Wu, and I’m a senior in the Woodrow Wilson School, pursuing certificates in American Studies and East Asian Studies. It’s my honor to chair this year’s crisis committee on the Taiping Rebellion. It’s a conflict that fascinates me. The Taiping Rebellion was the largest civil war in human history, but it barely receives any attention in your standard world history class. Which is a shame — it’s a multilayered conflict. There are ethnic, economic, and religious issues at play, as well as significant foreign involvement. I hope that you all find it as interesting as I do. On campus, I’m currently figuring out how to write my thesis, and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be researching the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). I’m also involved with the International Relations Council, the Daily Princetonian, the Asian American Students Association, and Princeton Advocates for Justice. I also enjoy cooking. Best of luck at the conference! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. You can email me anytime at [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • Did the Imperially Commissioned Manchu Rites for Sacrifices to The
    religions Article Did the Imperially Commissioned Manchu Rites for Sacrifices to the Spirits and to Heaven Standardize Manchu Shamanism? Xiaoli Jiang Department of History and Culture, Jilin Normal University, Siping 136000, China; [email protected] Received: 26 October 2018; Accepted: 4 December 2018; Published: 5 December 2018 Abstract: The Imperially Commissioned Manchu Rites for Sacrifices to the Spirits and to Heaven (Manzhou jishen jitian dianli), the only canon on shamanism compiled under the auspices of the Qing dynasty, has attracted considerable attention from a number of scholars. One view that is held by a vast majority of these scholars is that the promulgation of the Manchu Rites by the Qing court helped standardize shamanic rituals, which resulted in a decline of wild ritual practiced then and brought about a similarity of domestic rituals. However, an in-depth analysis of the textual context of the Manchu Rites, as well as a close inspection of its various editions reveal that the Qing court had no intention to formalize shamanism and did not enforce the Manchu Rites nationwide. In fact, the decline of the Manchu wild ritual can be traced to the preconquest period, while the domestic ritual had been formed before the Manchu Rites was prepared and were not unified even at the end of the Qing dynasty. With regard to the ritual differences among the various Manchu clans, the Qing rulers took a more benign view and it was unnecessary to standardize them. The incorporation of the Chinese version of the Manchu Rites into Siku quanshu demonstrates the Qing court’s struggles to promote its cultural status and legitimize its rule of China.
    [Show full text]
  • THE WHIRLING of SWORDS By: Grandmaster
    THE WHIRLING OF SWORDS By: Grandmaster. Michael Neal Have you ever wondered, “What are the martial arts? The term martial art refers to all of the various systems of training for combat that have been arranged or systematized. Generally, these different systems or styles are all designed for one purpose: Physically defeating opponents and defending against thwarts. In fact, the word “martial” derives from the name Mars, who was the Roman god of war. Before the martial arts were systematized, generals of the Warring States Period (480-221 BC) gained much personal combat experience in the field. As they grew older, they retired to Shaolin Temples to learn new skills from the masters there. The martial arts began in ancient times in East Asia, but because their beginnings are shrouded in myth and legend, it is impossible to establish their exact history. Kung fu, which may have been based on a fighting style from India, is perhaps the oldest martial art. A form of it was practiced in China more than 2,000 years ago. In 1898 through 1901, there arose a nationalist movement known as the Boxers, a Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists. A secret society founded in northern coastal province of Shandong China consisting largely of people who had lost their livelihood due to imperialism and natural disasters. They opposed foreign imperialism and Christianity. They met in secret at night, sang hymns, chanted, recited prayers, practiced martial arts and perhaps used breathing techniques to induce trances. The Boxers came from this secret society known as I-ho chuan, a Li sect of the Ba qua religion group, and were well trained in the martial arts of 1 Copyrighted 2012, By the Madison Martial Arts Academy| Boxing and Calisthenic that they practiced in the belief that this made them invulnerable, and would make them resistant to bullets.
    [Show full text]
  • History of China and Japan from 1900To 1976 Ad 18Bhi63c
    HISTORY OF CHINA AND JAPAN FROM 1900TO 1976 A.D 18BHI63C (UNIT II) V.VIJAYAKUMAR 9025570709 III B A HISTORY - VI SEMESTER Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (Chinese: 袁世凱; pinyin: Yuán Shìkǎi; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty, becoming the Emperor of the Empire of China (1915–1916). He tried to save the dynasty with a number of modernization projects including bureaucratic, fiscal, judicial, educational, and other reforms, despite playing a key part in the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform. He established the first modern army and a more efficient provincial government in North China in the last years of the Qing dynasty before the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor, the last monarch of the Qing dynasty, in 1912. Through negotiation, he became the first President of the Republic of China in 1912.[1] This army and bureaucratic control were the foundation of his autocratic. He was frustrated in a short-lived attempt to restore hereditary monarchy in China, with himself as the Hongxian Emperor (Chinese: 洪憲皇帝). His death shortly after his abdication led to the fragmentation of the Chinese political system and the end of the Beiyang government as China's central authority. On 16 September 1859, Yuan was born as Yuan Shikai in the village of Zhangying (張營村), Xiangcheng County, Chenzhou Prefecture, Henan, China. The Yuan clan later moved 16 kilometers southeast of Xiangcheng to a hilly area that was easier to defend against bandits. There the Yuans had built a fortified village, Yuanzhaicun (Chinese: 袁寨村; lit.
    [Show full text]
  • Part 7: Invasions, Rebellions, and the End of Imperial China Part 7 Introduction Pre-Modern Vs
    Part 7: Invasions, Rebellions, and the End of Imperial China Part 7 Introduction Pre-modern vs. Modern When does modern Chinese history begin? Some say during the Opium War, the late 1830s and 1840s. Others date modern history from 1919 and the May Fourth Movement. In this course we take the 18th century, when the Qing was at its height, to begin modern Chinese history. Considering that modern history bears some relation to the present, what events signified the beginning of that period? In Europe, historians often chose 1789, the French Revolution. The signifying events, the transitional events, for China begin with its transition from empire to nation-state, with population growth, with the inclusion of Xinjiang and Tibet during the Qianlong reign, and with the challenges of maintaining unity in a multi-ethnic population. Encounter with the West In the 19th century this evolving state ran head-on into the mobile, militarized nation of Great Britain, the likes of which it has never seen before. This encounter was nothing like the visits from Jesuit missionaries (footnote 129 on page 208) or Lord Macartney (page 253). It challenged all the principles of imperial rule. Foreign Enterprise Today’s Chinese economy has its roots in the Sino-foreign enterprises born during these early encounters. Opium was one of its main enterprises. Christianity was a kind of enterprise. These enterprises combined to weaken and humiliate the Qing. As would be said of a later time, these foreign insults were a “disease of the skin.”165 It was the Taiping Rebellion that struck at the heart.
    [Show full text]
  • Making the Palace Machine Work Palace Machine the Making
    11 ASIAN HISTORY Siebert, (eds) & Ko Chen Making the Machine Palace Work Edited by Martina Siebert, Kai Jun Chen, and Dorothy Ko Making the Palace Machine Work Mobilizing People, Objects, and Nature in the Qing Empire Making the Palace Machine Work Asian History The aim of the series is to offer a forum for writers of monographs and occasionally anthologies on Asian history. The series focuses on cultural and historical studies of politics and intellectual ideas and crosscuts the disciplines of history, political science, sociology and cultural studies. Series Editor Hans Hågerdal, Linnaeus University, Sweden Editorial Board Roger Greatrex, Lund University David Henley, Leiden University Ariel Lopez, University of the Philippines Angela Schottenhammer, University of Salzburg Deborah Sutton, Lancaster University Making the Palace Machine Work Mobilizing People, Objects, and Nature in the Qing Empire Edited by Martina Siebert, Kai Jun Chen, and Dorothy Ko Amsterdam University Press Cover illustration: Artful adaptation of a section of the 1750 Complete Map of Beijing of the Qianlong Era (Qianlong Beijing quantu 乾隆北京全圖) showing the Imperial Household Department by Martina Siebert based on the digital copy from the Digital Silk Road project (http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/II-11-D-802, vol. 8, leaf 7) Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Lay-out: Crius Group, Hulshout isbn 978 94 6372 035 9 e-isbn 978 90 4855 322 8 (pdf) doi 10.5117/9789463720359 nur 692 Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) The authors / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2021 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise).
    [Show full text]
  • The China Relief Expedition Joint Coalition Warfare in China Summer 1900
    07-02574 China Relief Cover.indd 1 11/19/08 12:53:03 PM 07-02574 China Relief Cover.indd 2 11/19/08 12:53:04 PM The China Relief Expedition Joint Coalition Warfare in China Summer 1900 prepared by LTC(R) Robert R. Leonhard, Ph.D. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory This essay reflects the views of the author alone and does not necessarily imply concurrence by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) or any other organization or agency, public or private. About the Author LTC(R) Robert R. Leonhard, Ph.D., is on the Principal Professional Staff of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and a member of the Strategic Assessments Office of the National Security Analysis Department. He retired from a 24-year career in the Army after serving as an infantry officer and war planner and is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm. Dr. Leonhard is the author of The Art of Maneuver: Maneuver-Warfare Theory and AirLand Battle (1991), Fighting by Minutes: Time and the Art of War (1994), The Principles of War for the Informa- tion Age (1998), and The Evolution of Strategy in the Global War on Terrorism (2005), as well as numerous articles and essays on national security issues. Foreign Concessions and Spheres of Influence China, 1900 Introduction The summer of 1900 saw the formation of a perfect storm of conflict over the northern provinces of China. Atop an anachronistic and arrogant national government sat an aged and devious woman—the Empress Dowager Tsu Hsi.
    [Show full text]
  • The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China: “My
    THE DIARY OF A MANCHU SOLDIER IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY CHINA The Manchu conquest of China inaugurated one of the most successful and long-living dynasties in Chinese history: the Qing (1644–1911). The wars fought by the Manchus to invade China and consolidate the power of the Qing imperial house spanned over many decades through most of the seventeenth century. This book provides the first Western translation of the diary of Dzengmeo, a young Manchu officer, and recounts the events of the War of the Three Feudatories (1673–1682), fought mostly in southwestern China and widely regarded as the most serious internal military challenge faced by the Manchus before the Taiping rebellion (1851–1864). The author’s participation in the campaign provides the close-up, emotional perspective on what it meant to be in combat, while also providing a rare window into the overall organization of the Qing army, and new data in key areas of military history such as combat, armament, logistics, rank relations, and military culture. The diary represents a fine and rare example of Manchu personal writing, and shows how critical the development of Manchu studies can be for our knowledge of China’s early modern history. Nicola Di Cosmo joined the Institute for Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, in 2003 as the Luce Foundation Professor in East Asian Studies. He is the author of Ancient China and Its Enemies (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and his research interests are in Mongol and Manchu studies and Sino-Inner Asian relations. ROUTLEDGE STUDIES
    [Show full text]
  • Bx Essay01.Pdf
    Detail from stereograph card with caption: “Company of Boxers, Tien-Tsin, China.” This is one of the few existing unstaged photographs of Boxers, other than depictions of them as prisoners. © 1901, Whiting Brothers Library of Congress [libc_1901_3g03917u] "The Boxer Uprising l" by Peter C. Purdue & Ellen Sebring 1 - 1 In 1898 and 1899, masses of Chinese peasants armed with swords and spears began attacking Christian Chinese villagers in the North China provinces of Shandong and Hebei. They called themselves “Righteous and Harmonious Fists” (Yihequan 义和拳), because they practiced martial arts and traditional military techniques. They also called themselves “Righteous and Harmonious Militia” (Yihetuan 义和团), because they claimed to be defending their homes against attacks by foreign bandits and their supporters. Western observers called them “Boxers,” focusing on their use of martial arts techniques, their belief in spells and amulets, and their violent attacks on local Christian communities. By mid 1900, Boxer attacks had spread widely across rural north China, and many groups converged on Tianjin and Beijing. They besieged the foreign legations in Beijing for 55 days and massacred foreigners in the coastal treaty port of Tianjin and in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province. In response, the armies of eight foreign powers landed in China and marched from Tianjin to Beijing to lift the siege. The foreign armies occupied the imperial palace, while the imperial court fled to safety in Xi’an. The foreigners blamed the Qing court for encouraging the Boxer attacks, as local officials had failed to suppress them or even encouraged them as local militia. After extensive negotiations, the Qing court was forced to sign a treaty providing for execution of guilty officials and a payment of an indemnity of 450 million taels of silver.
    [Show full text]