Foreign Christians In China example essay topic

"China never wanted foreigners any more than foreigners wanted China men, and on this question I am with the Boxers every time. The Boxer is a patriot. He loves his country better than he does the countries of other people. I wish him success. The Boxer believes in driving us out of his country.

I am a Boxer too, for I believe in driving him out of our country" - Mark Twain, Berkeley Lyceum, New York, Nov 23, 1900. The Boxer Rebellion soul purpose was to liberate China from foreign influence. Foreign capitalists dictated corrupt government officials and controlled leading industrial parts of Northern China. Chinese overseers were upset over this issue and contemplated for a solution. A revolt was the key and the outcome of the Boxer Rebellion was disastrous for China and its dynasty. Countless officials were executed, extensive payments had to be made and in addition, foreign troops were stationed in China as the dynasty lost its control.

To this extent, the Boxer Rebellion was a failure in its aftermath, although successful in its unification. During the 1890's, the Chinese people felt that foreigners not only had brought commercial and territorial demands but also had corroded the Chinese culture. Educated Chinese felt that foreigners humiliated China and they resented even the lowliest European clerk. China then was bombarded with European religion, science, and art from the Jesuit missionaries. As time passed, the power of China grew weaker because successive emperors failed to bring China into the modern world.

The Boxer Uprising of 1899-1900 was a turning point in China's history. Economic hardship, anti-foreign feeling, widespread belief in superstition by the uneducated lower class fueled this peasant rebellion. The Empress Dowager publicly opposed the Boxers, but her ministers convinced her to join forces in order to drive foreigners from China. In the early months of 1900, thousands of Boxers roamed the countryside, attacking Christians. When an international force of 2,100 soldiers attempted to land in China, the Empress Dowager ordered her imperial army to stop the foreign troops. The 'Boxer Rebellion' was the name the European and American newspapers gave to a religious, anti-foreign uprising in China in 1900.

The Boxers were consisted mainly of martial artists that targeted Christian missionaries in China. The Boxers favorite method of attack was to find a missionary family and hack them to death with machetes. The reason for their hatred of missionaries was that they were an insult to traditional Chinese culture. Also, some of the missionaries were dishonest and tried to interfere in the politics of rural China. Rev. Dr. A Woodruff Halsey said.

".. The missionary has had his share in fomenting this trouble and must bear his share of the blame. Some of the missionaries have been politicians as well as Christians, and their grasping, selfish attitude has helped to bring about the present condition... ". The Boxers first wanted to kill all the foreign Christians in China, and they also wanted to get rid of their foreign, Manchurian, rulers; the Dowager Empress and the Qing Dynasty which had ruled China for the past 300 years. However, the Dowager Empress was smart.

She convinced the Boxers that she was on their side and had the Boxers attack the foreigners instead. The Dowager Empress did not really want to kill all the foreigners though. She tried to help them whenever she could. Sometimes the Qing Imperial army would attack the foreigners and they would help protect them from the attacking Chinese Boxers. The Dowager Empress did not trust the Europeans, Americans and Japanese very much. She thought that they were dishonest in their relations with China, ."..

For the past thirty years [the foreigners] have taken advantage of our county's benevolence and generosity as well as our wholehearted conciliation to give free rein to their unscrupulous ambitions. They have oppressed our state, encroached upon our territory, trampled upon our people, and exacted our wealth. In small matters, they oppress peaceful people; in large matters, they insult what is divine and holy. All the people of our community are so full of anger and grievances that every one desires to take vengeance...

". Early days of June 1900, Boxer bands were in the process of taking Peking from the east. On June 11, a Japanese diplomat was murdered by the mob, and two days later the Christian churches of Peking were burned, their worshippers slaughtered. Fearing that the next step was an attack on the Legation Quarter, British diplomats message Admiral Seymour at Tientsin for help. He immediately set out with almost two thousand men, but Boxers barred the road to Peking and he was force back to Tientsin. The Qing government was not very happy.

The last time the foreigners were in Peking they ravaged the palace and the Qing government was afraid that the same thing would happen again. On the 13th, the Boxers attacked the neighborhood where the foreigners lived in Tianjin. They probably would have all died had it not been for the defensive fortifications. After two weeks of waiting, eight thousand troops of the European, American and Japanese forces entered Tianjin on 23rd.

The European, American and Japanese military forces entered Tianjin 23 June. The Boxers and soldiers from the Qing Imperial army were now attacking them. By the next day, the battle was over and the Boxers defeated. This defeat had an immediate effect in Peking and the Qing imperial army declared a cease-fire with the legations. During this time, there was intense negotiation between the Qing government and the governments of the foreigners.

The big dilemma came down on how to get the legations out of Peking without getting them killed. The Qing government did not want the European, American and Japanese army to come to Peking because they were afraid that the invading army would destroy the city. The European, American and Japanese had a dilemma because if they could trust the Qing government to protect the legations there was no way they could trust the Qing government to fight the Boxers who were still hungry for blood. To this end, they assembled a second international army to march on Peking. This relief column was not so much a unified army as it was four armies, the Japanese, Russians, English and Americans all acting on orders of their own generals.

They rarely cooperated with each other and often either accidentally or intentionally shot each other. With a clear takeover of Peking, the European, American and Japanese divided the city into sections and started looting the city. Foreigners had taken the imperial city for the second time in 40 years. The invaders stripped Peking of the art treasures and of all the gold and silver. The Dowager Empress was unable to stop the advance of the foreign invaders, and she was unable to stop her own forces from attacking the legations during the siege.

Nevertheless, she had already left the city. For the second time in her life, she had been unable to control the events around her. For the second time in her life, her beautiful palace was being destroyed; her capital over ran, her people being murdered. The Boxer Rebellion cause to liberate China was effective for a brief period of time and just like the two opium wars before, the consequences were drastic. The failure of the Boxer Rebellion brought increased foreign influence into China. This was an excuse for the powerful countries of Europe, American and Japan to interfere with and take partial control over China.

The Qing dynasty was humiliated and lost its control. The mandate was slowly slipping away as European influence increased in regions of Canton and Kiahta. Throughout the nineteenth century, foreigners took control of China and forced the people to make humiliating concessions. Italy, Japan, and Russia all claimed exclusive trading rights to certain parts of China. They divided the nation into 'spheres of influence' where they had exclusive trading rights.

The Americans proposed an 'Open Door Policy' where all nations would share China. Today, China is it is own country is a power in it is own right, with a huge say in world affairs. No doubt its experience in the Boxer rebellion as well as the two opium wars kindled its nationalistic feelings and sent it on it's long road to independence and power. web page. htm web.