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Background Guide 2015 International History Olympiad Historical Simulation of the Boxer Rebellion BACKGROUND GUIDE Dear International History Olympiad Participants, My name is Shravan Balaji, and I am a former history bowl player and Model United Nations participant from East Brunswick High School in New Jersey, USA. I served as captain of my school’s Academic Team and Secretary General of our Model United Nations program. Both activities have meant a lot to me, and I see no better place to combine them than at the International History Olympiad’s Historical Simulation. Though I will not be attending the event as I will be abroad, I hope you guys have the best possible time at the Olympiad as it’s something that I have always wanted to do. At the Olympiad you will have a chance to take part in a historical simulations of the Boxer Rebellion, a major Chinese historical event epitomizing anti-imperial sentiment. For those of you familiar with Model United Nations conferences, this simulation will operate similar to Model United Nations committees, using very basic parliamentary procedure with a “chair” to moderate debate. However, these simulations will include “crisis” elements, giving substantive updates in committee to delegates that will alter the flow of debate and require participants to use their critical thinking abilities to embrace and delineate complex solutions. I speak for both myself and all the Olympiad staff in saying that we hope you greatly enjoy this simulation. The simulation focused on in this specific brief will be the Boxer Rebellion from the perspective of the Imperial Court of the Qing Dynasty. The brief, intended to help you prepare for the committee, should serve as a starting point for research, as it will provide you historical context and information (graciously provided from an external source), an introductory letter from the Empress Dowager Cixi explaining the current situation, the list of all the positions in the committee and their descriptions, and a guide to the written output in committee. This should help you with preliminary research, but I absolutely request you try to research on your own as well to develop a greater understanding of the topic. In the meantime, have fun researching and get excited for this simulation! -Shravan Balaji Questions to consider: • Should the Qing Dynasty lend direct support to the Boxers? • What would be the best way to conduct diplomatic relations with the West? • Is the state of Chinese bureaucracy sufficient for the modern world? • In what ways, if any, can China modernize without disrupting Chinese culture? • What can be done to win back the Mandate of Heaven? • What external powers could China look to for help? • What measures can be taken to improve the standard of living for China’s common citizens? • Should the Han Chinese be given equal citizen status as compared to the minority Manchu elite? LETTER FROM THE DOWAGER EMPRESS: March 1, 1900 我的朝廷： 我們今天在這裡開會，是迫切的。在過去的幾十年裡，我們已經看到中國從控制我們的土地的侵蝕。 外國人入侵對中國事務，成立了不平等條約，建立勢力範圍，和生活的中國人的方式完全不尊重。至 關重要的是，我們找到一個方法來阻止這個，現在阻止這一切。 保持這種緊迫性的考慮，我再審你來參加我們的會議考慮三種不同的，同樣引人入勝的話題。首先， 考慮的範圍和方式，我們應該支持義和團運動。顯然，我們支持他們的崇高意圖，但限制是有我們對 他們的支持？接下來，我們必須考慮我們與西方的外交狀態。如果我們斷言自己進一步，維持現狀， 或者尋求其他什麼東西？我們的第三個爭論點是中國治理和官僚的狀態。是否有可能發生變化，我們 可以作出這樣的保存皇位，維護天命而不改變中國的文化？所有這些問題是重要的，必須立即進行討 論。這是給你，朝廷大臣珍貴，幫助找到解決這一危機。 在此之前， 慈禧太后 ENGLISH TRANSLATION To my Imperial Court: It is urgent that we meet here today. Over the past few decades, we have seen the erosion of Chinese control from our lands. Foreigners have intruded on Chinese affairs with the establishment of the unequal treaties, creation of spheres of influence, and complete disrespect of the Chinese way of life. It is vital that we find a way to stop this, and stop this now. Keeping this urgency in consideration, I request that you come to our meeting considering three different and equally engaging topics. First, consider the extent and manner in which we should support the Boxer Rebellion. Clearly we support their noble intentions, but what limits are there in our support for them? Next, we must consider our diplomatic state with the West. Should we assert ourselves further, maintain the status quo, or seek something else? Our third point of contention is the state of Chinese governance and bureaucracy. Are there possibly changes we can make that preserve the imperial throne and maintain the mandate of heaven without changing Chinese culture? All these issues are important and must be discussed immediately. It is up to you, the prized ministers of Imperial Court to help find a solution to this crisis. Until then, Empress Dowager Cixi A Brief History China, the self-proclaimed Middle Kingdom, is undoubtedly an ancient land. Its people and system of government can be traced as far back as 2100 BCE, with the founding of the semi- mythical Xia Dynasty in modern day Henan province; this event marks the beginning of a period of time known as the Ancient Era. Lasting from the founding of Xia in 2100 BCE to the end of the Warring States period in 221 BCE, this stretch of history was integral to the development of the modern Chinese theory of rule and civilization: during these long years, the concept of a divine mandate, or the Mandate of Heaven, was first invoked, and many central cultural institutions, such as the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism, were developed. This period also saw the movement of the ethnic Han Chinese from areas inhabited since prehistory to the many disparate regions that we now consider China proper. The Ancient era was violently ended as China disintegrated into the Warring States period, a 200-year long fragmentation of a historically more unified china. Historiographers consider the Ancient Era to have ended and the current era of Chinese history, the Imperial Era, to have begun when a wily new king of the State of Qin was victorious in his military campaigns against other small states, eventually unifying the six other major Chinese powers. In addition to the amalgamation of the states in the area of eastern China, this transition saw the beginning of the storied institutions of the imperial Chinese state, such as rule of law and the primacy of the emperor. From then on, China has seen the unceremonious transitions between various dynasties; the great strides in conquest and technological development of the Han; the period of foreign takeover by the Yuan; and, since the year 1664 AD, the governance by the Qing. The Qing, much like the Yuan years before them, are not Han Chinese, the ethnic majority in the nation, but are ethnically Jurchen, a people whose historic home has been in the region of Manchuria. The Aisin Gioro, originally the chieftains of a small, unimportant tribe, rose to prominence in the 16th century after unifying neighboring tribes, and declared themselves Khans of the Great Jin; they eventually became the tribe that took charge of the Qing dynasty. Previously a Ming tributary state, the Jurchen renounced their subservience to the Ming after achieving newfound power through unification. After a successful military campaign, the capital of Great Jin was moved south, and systems of military and civil administration developed; chief among these inventions was the system of Eight Banners, which would come to unify the still disparate peoples of Manchuria into a nation. The continued modernization of the state led to the creation of a rudimentary system of administration developed on the model of the Ming state; not surprisingly, it was staffed with captured Ming bureaucrats and was integral in keeping the varied lands of the empire together. Future Jurchen Khans continued the legacy of their forebear, eventually incorporating the territories of Mongolia into their growing state. After defeating the last Khan of the Mongols, the reigning Jin Khan was presented with the imperial seal of the Yuan Dynasty. After this conquest, the name of the state was changed to Great Qing, and the supreme position was elevated from Khan to Emperor. — 4 — The Qing took up the title of the Mandate of Heaven in the year of 1644. Aided by a great peasant rebellion in the ruling Ming Dynasty to the south, they swept in from Manchuria and sacked the rebel usurper’s capital in Beijing. On October 30th, the Qing finally took up the title of Son of Heaven and installed themselves as the rulers of all China. International Troubles Prior to the 1800s, the Qing were the dominant power in East Asia, with the regional hegemony needed to dictate the politics of all the realms in the east. However, as European powers began to build their economies around oceanic trade, they became stronger in relation to the insular Chinese state. For a time, the Qing were able to find a balance of power with the Europeans through what was known as the Canton System: this limited the ports at which European merchants could trade — most notably to its eponym, the port of Canto — and the seasons during which the movement of goods were permitted to take place. This decades old system was challenged in 1793 by the British East India Company, which desired the opening of China to a wider variety of trade. The British, under the ambassador Lord Macartney, argued that a country of Britain’s status deserved a more amicable trade relationship with China; this was promptly rebuked in Beijing, with the emperor telling the British that China had no need for their manufactured goods, and only desired to trade for precious metals. Pushed by both heightened demand in Europe for Chinese goods such as tea and silk as well as dwindling stockpiles of precious metals, the British searched for a solution. The British began to funnel opium into China through the port of Canton to perpetuate a Chinese addiction to the drug; in 1839, Britain was able to declare war on China after Beijing attempted to stem the Chinese addiction by banning the import of opium.
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