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User:Madalibi/Chronology of the Boxer Uprising

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This chronology describes how the Boxer Rebellion unfolded. It includes precursors of the uprising, as well as the full-fledged rebellion that unfolded over northern China in, culminated with the siege of the foreign legations in Beijing from June to August 1900, and formally ended with the signing of the Boxer Protocol on September 7th, 1901.

Causes and precursors of the Boxer uprising (until 1898)

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This section explains the rise of Christian presence in rural Shandong and Zhili, the power vacuum created and rise of banditry created by China's defeat during the Sino-Japanese War, the crisis of the scramble for concessions, and the failure of the reform movement that brought Empress Dowager Cixi to dominate the court in late 1898 and after.

  • 1860: following the end of the Second Opium War, signing of the Sino-French Treaty of Tientsin (which had been negotiated in 1858) and of the Sino-French Convention of Peking, which grants missionaries the freedom to preach anywhere in the empire and Chinese subjects the right to practice Christianity; the treaties also allow Catholic missionaries to purchase land and to erect buildings on them; thanks to the most-favored-nation clauses, Protestant missionaries benefit from the same protection;[1] these treaties allowed missionary activity to boom and contributed to clashes between local Chinese on the one hand and missionaries and their Chinese converts on the other (Cohen, Esherick)
  • 1861: the Legation Quarter is established just south of the Imperial City in Beijing to host permanent foreign delegations; the Legations would be besieged in the summer of 1900
  • 1880s: an aggressive branch of the Catholic Church called the German "Society of the Divine Word" starts sending missionaries to China; their meddling in local judicial matters creates social tensions
  • April 17, 1895: signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which marked the end of the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895). The war had depleted the normal quota of Qing troops stationed in Shandong province, creating a vacuum in which the Boxer movement would thrive.[2]
  • April 23, 1895: the Triple Intervention, a diplomatic intervention by Russia, Germany, and France to force Japan to leave the Liaodong peninsula, which had been ceded to them in the Treaty of Shimonoseki (Hsu 411–12)
  • Spring 1895: the imperial court orders officials to annihilate the bandits that had been plaguing the border between Shandong and Jiangsu; Shandong officials enlist the help of the Big Sword Society, one of the precursors of the Boxers; the Big Swords become a powerful local player in southwestern Shandong.[3]
  • Spring and summer 1896: the Big Sword Society launches several attacks on Christian properties in the Jiangsu-Shandong broder area in the context of a lineage dispute over land use;[3] the local authorities, led by prefect and future governor Yuxian now sees the Big Swords as troublemakers and has their leaders executed; the Big Sword Society loses its influence.[4]
  • November 1, 1897: Juye Incident, in which two German Catholic missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word are killed by a small band of armed men.[4]
  • November 14, 1897: taking the pretext of the Juye Incident, Germany sends its fleet to seize Jiaozhou Bay on the southern coast of Shandong and forces the Qing government to lease it to Germany for 25 years; the German move triggers a "scramble for concessions" in which other powers also secure their own sphere of influence in China
  • January 1898: In a formal diplomatic settlement signed by China under strong pressure from Germany after the Juye Incident of November 1897, China is forced to agree to the "erection of cathedrals, at its own expense, in the village where the missionaries were killed ans two other places, with signs to be posted at the cathedral entrtances stating: 'Catholic church constructed by imperial order'."[5] More than a half dozen local officials are dismissed, impeached, or transfered, and even "the conservative but honest" Shandong governor Li Bingheng is demoted and removed from his post.[6]
  • March 1898: as a counterbalance to the German seizing of Jiazhou Bay a few months earlier, Russia also uses gunboat diplomacy to obtain a long-term lease on Port Arthur at the tip of the strategically and economically important Liaodong peninsula
  • June 11, 1898: the Guangxu Emperor launches a series of sweeping institutional reforms designed to help China modernize urgently after its defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1895) and the "scramble for concessions" (1897–98) that was threatening the empire's territorial integrity
  • September 21, 1898: a coup led by conservatives at court puts an end to the reform movement 104 days after it started; the movement will become known as the Hundred Days' Reform; the emperor is put under house arrest, after which Empress Dowager Cixi dominates policy-making until her death in 1908.

Rise of the Boxers and the prelude to war (1899–20 June 1900)

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This section explains the more direct emergence of the Boxer movement in 1899 and the series of social, diplomatic, and military events that led to the Chinese declaration of war on June 21, 1900.

1899

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  • Early: drought set in, to last until 1900.[7]
  • April–May: missionaries in western Shandong and southern Zhili report clashes between Boxers and local Christians.[8]
  • September 6: to protect American commercial interests in CHina, Secretary of State John Hay sends an "Open Door note" to the governments of Germany, Russia, and England, asking (Esthus 435; Kaufman 2009: 44)
  • Early October: "notice of the Boxers began to appear in foreign newspapers."[8]
  • October: Battle of Senluo Temple in northwestern Shandong, the first clash between Boxers and Qing government forces; first use of "Society United in Righteousness" (Yihetuan 義和團) as self-reference.[9]
  • November: rash of other violent clashes between Boxers and Christians in Shandong.[10]
  • November: capture of three main Boxer leaders by Yuxian; ordinary Boxers are let go.[10]
  • December: execution of the three Boxer leaders who had led the Boxers at Senluo Temple.[10]
  • December: removal of Yuxian from Shandong governorship;[10] he is replaced by the anti-Boxer Yuan Shikai.[11]
  • December 31: British missionary S.M. Brooks is killed by Boxers in Feicheng; this is the first foreigner killed by Boxers.

Early 1900

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  • By the beginning of 1900, "approximately one hundred boxing grounds had been established in the southern county of Wuyi alone."[12]
  • January 5: "Sir Claude MacDonald, the British Minister, in his dispatch of January 5 to the Foreign Office, took note of the growing turmoil "secret societies" were creating in northern Shandong and made specific reference to "an organization known as the 'Boxers,'" which had attained "special notoriety" and whose "ravages [had] recently spread over a large portion of Southern Chihli [Zhili]." The danger to Christians had been the subject of "repeated representations" by the foreign ministers, especially those of Germany, the United States, and Great Britain, to the Chinese government.[8]
  • January 11: In response to foreign worries, the court issues an edict which announced that people drilling for self-defense and for the protection of their village were not to be arrested; only those who fomented trouble were to be repressed.
  • January 27: "Britain, the United States, France, Germany, and Italy sent identical notes to the Zongli Yamen––the Chinese government office in charge of foreign affairs––requesting publication of an imperial edict ordering the immediate suppression of the Boxers (and the Big Sword Society) in Shanding and Zhili."[8]
  • Early months: dramatic expansion of the Boxer movement in Zhili.[13]
  • First months: "Boxer actions consisted typically of the destruction (usually by fire) of churches and chapels and the looting of covert homes and other properties, usually / in rural areas."[8] "The court's initial reaction to this upsurge of activity was to seek to avoid further confrontation with the Boxers, partly because Qing military forces in Zhili were stretched perilously thin."[14]
  • March: Yuxian becomes governor of Shanxi.[15]
  • Spring: first identifiable Boxers United in Righteousness begin to appear in Beijing, "first in the back alleys, and then with increasing brazenness in the busy commercial districts of the capital."[16] At the same time, Boxers were organising int he towns along the Grand Canal west of the city of Tianjin.[17]
  • Mid-April: by then, six warships from four different countries had drawn up before the Dagu forts;[15] an edict was soon published in the Beijin Gazette prohibiting the Boxers (in response to foreign demands), but two days later the January 11 edict tolerating peaceful associations formed in self-defense was reissued.[15]
  • May: "a much expanded Boxer movement became increasingly active in large population centers, and the repertoire of Boxer activities became less exclusively anti-Christian and more broadly antiforeign."[18]
  • Mid-May: as of then, "Boxer violence had been directed almost exclusively against native Christians and their churches and homes, only one foreign life (that of Brooks) had been lost, and no attacks had yet been launched against the railways and telegraphs."[14]
  • Last 10 days of May: siege of Zhuozhou,[14] "a busy commercial center on the recently completed Beijing-Baoding railway line"; "thousands of Boxers from nearby towns and villages came together under a unified command."[18]
  • May 27: "Beginning on May 27, the Boxers launched a succession of attacks along the Beijing-Baoding railway, ripping up tracks, destroying stations and bridges, and severing telegraph lines."[14]
  • May 28: "burned down the Fengtai station on the Beijing-Tianjin railway, about ten miles from the capital."[14]
  • May 28: in reaction to the burning of the Fengtai station, "the foreign ministers in the capital, fearing the loss of the rail link to the coast, called up several hundred legation guards";[14] the Zongli Yamen accepted, but only if the number of soldier for each mission did not exceed 30
  • May 29: following the killing of Yang Futong and the destruction along the railway, the court ordered that officials should disperse Boxers who resisted orders, "annihilate as the situation requires."[19]
  • May 30: following announcement of calling up the guards, court said that its policy was the old (and now ineffective) one of "rigorously arresting the leaders and dispersing the followers"; all reference to "annihilation" is dropped.[19]
  • May 31: the first large contingent of guards requested by foreign ministers arrives by rail from Dagu: 75 Russians, 75 British, 75 French, 50 Americans, 40 Italians, and 25 Japanese;[19] this move arouses antiforeign feeling among the population at large;[14] decisive role of this summoning of the guards;[20] "such precipitous foreign action only made matters worse";[19] "News of the foreign intervention probably helped to precipitate the first attacks on foreigners since the death of the British missionary Brooks in December 1899."[19]
  • May 31: "four French and Belgian railway engineers, attempting to escape to Tianjin from Baoding after the cutting of the Beijing-Baoding railway line, were killed by Boxers."[14] They were part of a group of 36 engineers who tried to flee to Tianjin by boat.
  • By June: "Boxers from the countryside were streaming into both Beijing and Tianjin by the thousands" from the surrounding countryside.[21] Had a major influence on court deliberations and foreign fears.[21]
  • June 1: "two British missionaries met their deaths in Yongqing, directly south of Beijing."[14] "Manifestly, the Boxer movement, in the last days of May and the first days of June, had rounded an important bend, venturing into territory it had previously only threatened to enter."[14]
  • June 3: in reaction to foreign military buildup, the court explicitly warns against annihilating Boxers; foreign action strengthens the pro-Boxer faction at court.[19]
  • Early June: "Boxer involvement in the Baoding area also escalated";[14] "Governor-General Yulu for the first time urged the Zongli Yamen to request that orders be given to Nie and other Qing commanders to take decisive action to suppress the Boxer movement without further delay."[14]
  • Early June: by then, 24 foreign warships had assemble opposite the Dagu forts, increasing antiforeign feeling among the population.[22] Crisis clearly serious; for the first time, the powerful viceroys of the Yangzi Valley (Zhang Zhidong in Wuhan and Liu Kunyi in Nanjing), and the director of railways and telegraphs Sheng Xuanhai, called for an immediate military suppression of the Boxers to forestall foreign intervention.[23] The well armed troops of Nie Shicheng (himself fiercely anti-Boxer) are deployed against the Boxers along the Beijing-Baoding railway.[14]
  • June 6: 480 Boxers are killed by Nie Shicheng's forces near Langfang; part of several clashes between Qing forces and Boxers in early June during which Nie's troops also suffered heavy casualties.[23]; overwhelming support for the Boxers in the surrounding countryside forced Nie to retreat to the town of Yangcun on the Beijing-Tianjin railway.[23] Increasing court orders to suppress the Boxers; didn't have time to follow through, because of Seymour expedition
  • June 10: at the urgent request of the British minister MacDonald, Admiral Edward Seymour set out from Tianjin with 2000 men to protect the legations, but without asking for court's permission; causes great alarm at court.[23]
  • June 10: prince Duan is appointed President of the Zongli Yamen.[24]
  • June 11: Sugiyama Akira, secretary of the Japanese legation, is shot down near the railway station by troops from Dong Fuxiang's army[24]
  • June 13: Yulu ordered to resist foreign advance, but no troops are committed
  • June 15 and 16: marines set out from the legations to rescue native Christians, shooting some forty Boxers during a sortie on the latter date."[24]
  • June 16: foreign powers issue an ultimatum for a surrender of the Dagu forts
  • June 17: storming of the Dagu forts.[25]
  • June 16 and 17: extraordinary mass audience of princes and metropolitan ministers before the Emperor and Empress Dowager to discuss pacification vs. annihilation; pacification is chosen because the Boxers have popular support and the court cannot risk a rebellion so near the capital when foreign troops were also advancing inland.[26]
  • June 19: news of the Dagu ultimatum reaches the court; emissaries are sent to order the evacuation of the foreign legations within 24 hours.[27]
  • June 20: Baron Clemens von Ketteler is shot dead by a Chinese soldier on his way to an appointment with the Zongli Yamen;[27] "The other ministers were convinced that they were safer in the legations; and with that the siege of the legations began."[27]

The Boxer War and the siege of the legations (21 June–14 August 1900)

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  • June 21: "the court received an extremely misleading memorial from Yulu mentioning the battle at Dagu but not the outcome, and stressing the cooperation of Boxers and imperial troops in resisting the foreigners. The court read this as a report of Chinese victories and on the 21st issued its 'declaration of war.' On the same day, orders were issued to enlist the Boxers into the official militia, and Gangyi and two other Manchu noblemen were ordered to take charge of managing Boxer affairs."[27] This declaration of war was a curious document, since it was part of a series of edicts that were published the same day without being directly addressed to the foreign powers.[27] Officials in the Yangzi valley and southern China all agree with foreigners not to bring the fight to these regions.[28] The throne declares war on the foreign powers.[29]
  • "with substantial official encouragement and complicity," a major bloodbath against Christians and foreigners followed the declaration of war in provinces surrounding the capital, which were under the control of Manchu officials who proved responsive to edicts ordering the mobilization of Boxers to resist foreign aggression and Christian complicity with it.[30]
  • June: up to the declaration of war, there had been little Boxer organization in Shanxi, but with a little encouragement from the new governor Yuxian, thousands rallied to the cause in June.[30] Boxers also spilled to Inner Mongolia, where they received similar support from officials; Christians took refuge in churches which they turned into fortresses; one of the larger churches was overwhelmed by Manchu-led and Boxer troops and in all some 3,000 Christians (mostly Catholics) died. Among foreigners, 40 Protestants and 9 Catholics died, which means Shanxi and Inner Mongolia accounted for 3/4 of all foreign deaths.[31]
  • "It was only with the declaration of war, and the official sanctioning of Boxer activities, that widespread killing of the hated Christians occurred" in Zhili.[31] Baoding: 15 protestant missionaries ho had stayed when officials had promised protection were killed by Boxers, who were allowed by judicial commissioner Tingyong to overwhelm the mission compound; loss was relatively minor compared to the native Christians (esp. Catholics), thousands of whom were probably killed.[31]
  • in Henan, widespread attacks on churches only occurred after June 1900; mostly destroyed churches, so few lives were lost.[32]
  • "tremendous escalation of violence following the court's 'declaration of war'"; "It is clear that most of the foreign deaths were either official executions or very directly instigated by particularly anti-foreign officials. In the early stages of relatively spontaneous Boxer activity, the scale of violence was generally limited to crimes against property. Christian deaths began to escalate only in the spring of 900, following a substantial number of Boxer deaths at Christian hands. But the real violence––and especially the violence against foreigners––occurred only when the movement ceased to be under popular direction, when Manchu officials decided to use the movement for their own xenophobic ends."[32]
  • June 26: Seymour's group returns to Tianjin after a loss of 62 killed and 212 wounded; much of the credit for stopping foreigners went to the Boxers, whose prestige was thus greatly increased.[33]
  • July 9: Taiyuan Massacre: Yuxian personally supervised the execution of 44 foreign men, women, and children whom he had called to the capital allegedly to protect them.[30] "Further executions and officially inspired killings brought the tool to about 130 / foreigners and 2,000 Chinese Christians in SHanxi, by far the highest in Western lives in any province."[34]
  • July 13: Beginning of the Battle of Tientsin. "After a series of battles in which the Chinese forces seized key Chinese positions, a full-scale allied attack on the Chinese city of Tianjin was launched on July 13."[35]
  • July 14: after a day of fierce fighting, the / city [Tianjin] fell, the Chinese defenders and most of the Boxers having fallen back at the last moment.... For several days, the city was simply given over to the foreign troops to loot and plunder."[36]
  • July 20–22: Battles of Amur River
  • August 4: the Gaselee Expedition leaves Tianjin en route to Peking to relieve the siege of the legations
  • August 5: Battle of Beicang
  • August 6: Battle of Yangcun
  • August 14: in the Battle of Beijing, the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance defeat the last defenders of Beijing and relieve the siege of the Legations; uncontrolled plunder of the capital lasts for several days.[37]

The Occupation and the Boxer Protocol (15 August 1900–September 1901)

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Late 1900

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  • August 15: the Empress Dowager and her entourage flee the capital to find refuge in Xi'an
  • August–October: the occupying forces start looting Beijing and the surrounding countryside, both to exact retribution on Boxers and to find possessions; the looting was to last well into October in Beijing.[38]
  • August 1900 – April 1901: "reign of terror" imposed by foreign powers in north China, as they execute suspected Boxers, often entire villages.[39]
  • August 18: "U.S. cannon blow open the gates leading up the Hall of Supreme Harmony, but commander of the U.S. forces Adna Chaffee decides not to enter the Forbidden City.[40]
  • Late August: fearing that unregulated looting would make lasting occupation difficult, the British army decides to organize formal sales of loot to create a prize fund that would later be shared proportionally to army rank; by August 22, these auctions had become daily occurrences and lasted until at least April 1901;[41] nonetheless soldiers and civilians continued to buy and sell loot privately throughout Beijing.[42]
  • August 28: contingents from the eight occupying forces and the diplomatic corps hold a "Triumphal March" from the Temple of Heaven to the Forbidden City, making sure they walk through ways that they understood were reserved only to the emperor;[43] contemporaneous Western sources present the march as "pleasure, humiliation, or desecration."[44]
  • September 20: Battle of Beitang (check date); first known retributive expedition led by American missionaries with the support of U.S. forces; officers put an end to these escorts when they see that the missionaries are using them to plunder villages surrounding Beijing.[45]
  • "enormous scale of the plunder of Beijing and Zhili province,"[46] but difficult to assess due to lack of information
  • October 23: Count Alfred von Waldersee, general commander of the occupying forces, visits the Forbidden City for the first time and later claims to have found it in "absolutely shocking condition";[47] he was one of many foreigners to visit the previously inaccessible parts of the palace complex, including tourists.[48]

1901

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  • February 2: the British hold a memorial service for the recently deceased Queen Victoria inside the Forbidden City; contingents from all occupying armies attended;[49] this ceremony was part of several acts designed to resymbolize things that the occupiers thought were of significance for the Chinese.[50]
  • September 7: signing of the Boxer Protocol, which imposed a heavy indemnity on China, banned it from importing weapons for two years, mandated the destruction of the Dagu Forts, allowed the stationing of foreign troops in Beijing, and demanded the execution of several high offiicals who had supported the Boxers

Notes

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  1. ^ Cohen 1997, pp. 552–53.
  2. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 17.
  3. ^ a b Cohen 1997, p. 19.
  4. ^ a b Cohen 1997, p. 20.
  5. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 21.
  6. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 20–21.
  7. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 34.
  8. ^ a b c d e Cohen 1997, p. 44.
  9. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 32.
  10. ^ a b c d Cohen 1997, p. 33.
  11. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 35.
  12. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 38. Wuyi was in Zhili.
  13. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 41–42.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cohen 1997, p. 47.
  15. ^ a b c Esherick 1987, p. 286.
  16. ^ Esherick 1987, p. 290.
  17. ^ Esherick 1987, p. 290–91.
  18. ^ a b Cohen 1997, p. 42.
  19. ^ a b c d e f Esherick 1987, p. 287.
  20. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 48.
  21. ^ a b Esherick 1987, p. 291.
  22. ^ Cohen 1997, pp. 47–48; Esherick 1987, p. 287.
  23. ^ a b c d Esherick 1987, p. 288.
  24. ^ a b c Esherick 1987, p. 302.
  25. ^ Esherick 1987, pp. 288–89.
  26. ^ Esherick 1987, pp. 289–90.
  27. ^ a b c d e Esherick 1987, p. 303.
  28. ^ Esherick 1987, pp. 303–4.
  29. ^ Cohen 1997, p. 42.
  30. ^ a b c Esherick 1987, p. 304.
  31. ^ a b c Esherick 1987, p. 305.
  32. ^ a b Esherick 1987, p. 306.
  33. ^ Esherick 1987, pp. 288–89.
  34. ^ Esherick 1987, pp. 304–5.
  35. ^ Esherick 1987, p. 308.
  36. ^ Esherick 1987, pp. 308–9.
  37. ^ Hevia 2003, p. 211.
  38. ^ Hevia 2003, p. 210.
  39. ^ Hevia 2003, pp. 220–24 (p. 224 for "reign of terror").
  40. ^ Hevia 2003, pp. 203–4.
  41. ^ Hevia 2003, pp. 212–14.
  42. ^ Hevia 2003, pp. 215–16.
  43. ^ Hevia 2003, p. 204.
  44. ^ Hevia 2003, p. 205.
  45. ^ Hevia 2003, p. 218.
  46. ^ Hevia 2003, p. 219.
  47. ^ Hevia 2003, p. 207.
  48. ^ Hevia 2003, pp. 206–8.
  49. ^ Hevia 2003, p. 201.
  50. ^ Hevia 2003, p. 202.

Works cited

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  • Cohen, Paul A. (1997), History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-231-10651-3.
  • Esherick, Joseph W. (1987), The Origins of the Boxer Uprising, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-06459-3.
  • Hevia, James L. (2003), English Lessons: The Pedagogy of Imperialism in Nineteenth-Century China, Durham (NC) and London: Duke University Press, ISBN 0-8223-3151-9 (cloth: alk. paper); ISBN 0-8223-3188-8 (pbk.: alk. paper).
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