Excerpt
Introduction: What Was the Boxer Rebellion?
It started with fear. Not thunderstorm-in-the-middle-of-the-night fear. Not monster-under-the-bed fear. This was a different kind—fear of change, fear of outsiders, fear that the world you’ve always known is slipping away faster than you can hold onto it.
In China at the end of the 1800s, change was everywhere. Strange buildings were rising in cities. People were speaking new languages in the streets. Shops were selling things that didn’t come from Chinese markets—things like machines, odd tools, foreign books, and foods with odd smells. Railroads were stretching across the land like snakes made of steel, hissing and clattering as they carried people and cargo to places they’d never gone before. To some, it felt like China wasn’t really China anymore.
That’s when the trouble began.
The Boxer Rebellion wasn’t started by boxers in a boxing ring. The people who took part in it were called the “Boxers” by outsiders, but that wasn’t their real name. They were part of a secret group called the “Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists.” That’s a long name, but the last word—“fists”—is the part foreigners noticed most. The group trained in martial arts, like punching and kicking, and they believed they had powerful, even magical, skills that could help them protect China. They thought they could dodge bullets, call on spirits, and become unstoppable in battle.
That sounds like a wild idea, but it didn’t seem wild to them. They truly believed it. To them, foreign powers were threatening everything Chinese people had lived with for centuries—beliefs, traditions, food, language, clothes, land. And they weren’t just upset about things changing. They were angry. Furious, even.
Foreign countries had forced China to agree to unfair deals. These deals, called treaties, let those countries take control of land and build their own buildings, railroads, and businesses in Chinese cities. Some Chinese people became very rich by working with these foreigners. Others—especially farmers and poor villagers—saw their jobs disappear and their families struggle. On top of that, Christian missionaries were arriving, trying to teach new beliefs that were completely different from the ones Chinese families had followed for generations. It felt like strangers were showing up and saying, “Your way of life is wrong. Do it our way instead.”
That’s when the Boxers said, “Enough.”
They started in the countryside, far from the cities where foreign powers had the most control. At first, they held secret meetings and practiced their martial arts. They wore red sashes and headbands, marched in formation, and shouted slogans like “Support the Qing, destroy the foreigners!” The Qing (pronounced “ching”) were the ruling family of China—the emperors and empresses. The Boxers weren’t trying to get rid of the government. They were trying to protect it. They believed that if they could get rid of the foreigners and those who had converted to Christianity, China could return to its old ways.
At first, the rebellion was small. A few towns, a few attacks. But it spread like wildfire. Villages joined in. Angry crowds tore down telegraph lines, smashed railroads, and attacked churches and foreign homes. Some Chinese people who had become Christians were also targeted. The Boxers thought they had betrayed their traditions. In some places, the violence was terrifying.
Now, not everyone agreed with what the Boxers were doing. Even some people who didn’t like foreigners were frightened by how fast things were spinning out of control. The Qing government didn’t know what to do. Should they stop the Boxers—or help them?
At first, the leaders in Beijing (the capital) tried to calm things down. But the Boxers kept growing in number. Their power couldn’t be ignored. Eventually, Empress Dowager Cixi, the woman who held the real power in the Qing court, made a decision that would change everything: she chose to support the Boxers.
With the government behind them, the Boxers marched into Beijing. They surrounded the area where foreign diplomats lived, known as the Legation Quarter. They cut off food, water, and supplies. Inside were men, women, and children from many countries, trapped and waiting for help. Outside were thousands of Boxers, ready to attack.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world was watching—and getting nervous.
Eight countries—Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, the United States, and Austria-Hungary—decided to send their armies to rescue their people and stop the rebellion. They called themselves the Eight-Nation Alliance. Thousands of soldiers marched across China, fighting the Boxers and anyone else who stood in their way. It was a long, difficult journey, but in the end, they made it to Beijing and broke the siege.
The Boxers were defeated, but the damage had already been done. Cities had been destroyed. Thousands of lives had been lost—foreigners, Chinese Christians, regular villagers, soldiers, and Boxers alike. The Chinese government was forced to sign a new agreement with the Eight-Nation Alliance, one that punished them harshly. It made China pay huge amounts of money, allowed foreign troops to stay in certain cities, and even demanded that government officials be punished or executed.
Chapter 1: The World Comes to China
The ships didn’t look like anything Chinese fishermen had ever seen. They were tall, made of dark wood and metal, and powered not just by wind, but by steam. They hissed and clanked as they pulled into port, their flags flapping in the wind—strange flags with stars, stripes, lions, and crosses. People gathered along the docks, staring, whispering, pointing. Something new had come to China.
The first thing those foreign ships brought was trade. But it wasn’t a friendly kind of trade where both sides agreed on what was fair. Foreign merchants—especially from Britain—wanted tea, silk, and porcelain. These were things China had made for hundreds of years, and they were prized around the world. In return, the Chinese expected silver or gold. They didn’t want wool coats, glass beads, or canned meats. They had their own products and their own way of doing business.
But when British merchants couldn’t get enough Chinese goods, they found something else to offer: opium. It was a drug that came from poppy plants. And even though it was addictive and harmful, it made people crave more. Chinese leaders begged the British to stop selling it. When they didn’t, it led to a war. China lost. After that, the rules changed—and not in China’s favor.
Foreign powers started carving out pieces of the country for themselves. They called them “spheres of influence.” These were areas where certain countries could build railroads, open banks, run factories, and even control the local police. It wasn’t exactly like being conquered, but it was close. If you were Chinese and wanted to fight back, there wasn’t much you could do. Foreign laws often protected the outsiders more than the local people.
Soon, missionaries began to arrive. Some came from Britain. Others came from the United States, France, or Germany. They didn’t come to trade, but to teach. They brought with them Christianity—a religion that was completely different from the beliefs most Chinese people followed. Instead of honoring ancestors or praying at temples, missionaries spoke of one God and told people to turn away from the old customs.
To some, this new religion seemed strange. To others, it seemed like an attack. Festivals that had gone on for centuries were now called “superstitions.” Temples were seen as useless. Even food offerings to ancestors were frowned upon. But the missionaries didn’t just preach. They built schools and hospitals. They helped the poor. They gave free lessons to children who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to read. That made some people curious. Others were thankful. A few converted.
But those who did were often treated differently by their neighbors. Some villagers thought they had betrayed their heritage. Others were jealous of the help they received. In places where life was already hard, this added even more tension.
As foreign influence grew, so did the physical changes to the land. Railroads began cutting through valleys and hills, powered by coal and steel. They didn’t follow the paths of old cart tracks or foot trails. They went in straight lines, even if that meant tearing through sacred land, farmland, or ancestral burial grounds. Villagers watched as teams of foreign engineers hammered down rails and drove massive stakes into the ground. The land that had once belonged to them was now crisscrossed by tracks they didn’t control.
The railroads brought goods and people faster than ever before. But they also brought problems. Bandits followed the trains, hoping to rob them. Animals were scared away by the noise. Farmlands were divided. In many towns, foreign companies controlled who could ride the trains and where they could go. Chinese people were sometimes forced to buy tickets from foreign-owned offices or were charged more for the same seat.
Even cities began to change. New buildings went up—tall ones with flat roofs, made of stone or brick instead of wood. Some had signs in English or French. There were churches with spires, banks with iron doors, and Western-style homes with glass windows and painted fences. These buildings didn’t look anything like the old tea houses or curved-roof temples that had been there before. And often, Chinese people weren’t allowed inside unless they worked as servants.
To many, it felt like two different worlds living side by side. In one world, foreign families wore suits and dresses, rode in horse-drawn carriages, and had guards at their gates. In the other, Chinese families kept to their traditions, walked through markets on foot, and hoped not to be pushed aside.
It wasn’t just about buildings and trains. It was about power. When a Chinese citizen and a foreigner got into a disagreement, the foreigner was usually protected by their country’s laws—even if the argument happened in China. If a foreigner broke a local rule, they might be taken to their own court, not a Chinese one. That made a lot of people feel helpless.
It started with fear. Not thunderstorm-in-the-middle-of-the-night fear. Not monster-under-the-bed fear. This was a different kind—fear of change, fear of outsiders, fear that the world you’ve always known is slipping away faster than you can hold onto it.
In China at the end of the 1800s, change was everywhere. Strange buildings were rising in cities. People were speaking new languages in the streets. Shops were selling things that didn’t come from Chinese markets—things like machines, odd tools, foreign books, and foods with odd smells. Railroads were stretching across the land like snakes made of steel, hissing and clattering as they carried people and cargo to places they’d never gone before. To some, it felt like China wasn’t really China anymore.
That’s when the trouble began.
The Boxer Rebellion wasn’t started by boxers in a boxing ring. The people who took part in it were called the “Boxers” by outsiders, but that wasn’t their real name. They were part of a secret group called the “Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists.” That’s a long name, but the last word—“fists”—is the part foreigners noticed most. The group trained in martial arts, like punching and kicking, and they believed they had powerful, even magical, skills that could help them protect China. They thought they could dodge bullets, call on spirits, and become unstoppable in battle.
That sounds like a wild idea, but it didn’t seem wild to them. They truly believed it. To them, foreign powers were threatening everything Chinese people had lived with for centuries—beliefs, traditions, food, language, clothes, land. And they weren’t just upset about things changing. They were angry. Furious, even.
Foreign countries had forced China to agree to unfair deals. These deals, called treaties, let those countries take control of land and build their own buildings, railroads, and businesses in Chinese cities. Some Chinese people became very rich by working with these foreigners. Others—especially farmers and poor villagers—saw their jobs disappear and their families struggle. On top of that, Christian missionaries were arriving, trying to teach new beliefs that were completely different from the ones Chinese families had followed for generations. It felt like strangers were showing up and saying, “Your way of life is wrong. Do it our way instead.”
That’s when the Boxers said, “Enough.”
They started in the countryside, far from the cities where foreign powers had the most control. At first, they held secret meetings and practiced their martial arts. They wore red sashes and headbands, marched in formation, and shouted slogans like “Support the Qing, destroy the foreigners!” The Qing (pronounced “ching”) were the ruling family of China—the emperors and empresses. The Boxers weren’t trying to get rid of the government. They were trying to protect it. They believed that if they could get rid of the foreigners and those who had converted to Christianity, China could return to its old ways.
At first, the rebellion was small. A few towns, a few attacks. But it spread like wildfire. Villages joined in. Angry crowds tore down telegraph lines, smashed railroads, and attacked churches and foreign homes. Some Chinese people who had become Christians were also targeted. The Boxers thought they had betrayed their traditions. In some places, the violence was terrifying.
Now, not everyone agreed with what the Boxers were doing. Even some people who didn’t like foreigners were frightened by how fast things were spinning out of control. The Qing government didn’t know what to do. Should they stop the Boxers—or help them?
At first, the leaders in Beijing (the capital) tried to calm things down. But the Boxers kept growing in number. Their power couldn’t be ignored. Eventually, Empress Dowager Cixi, the woman who held the real power in the Qing court, made a decision that would change everything: she chose to support the Boxers.
With the government behind them, the Boxers marched into Beijing. They surrounded the area where foreign diplomats lived, known as the Legation Quarter. They cut off food, water, and supplies. Inside were men, women, and children from many countries, trapped and waiting for help. Outside were thousands of Boxers, ready to attack.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world was watching—and getting nervous.
Eight countries—Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, the United States, and Austria-Hungary—decided to send their armies to rescue their people and stop the rebellion. They called themselves the Eight-Nation Alliance. Thousands of soldiers marched across China, fighting the Boxers and anyone else who stood in their way. It was a long, difficult journey, but in the end, they made it to Beijing and broke the siege.
The Boxers were defeated, but the damage had already been done. Cities had been destroyed. Thousands of lives had been lost—foreigners, Chinese Christians, regular villagers, soldiers, and Boxers alike. The Chinese government was forced to sign a new agreement with the Eight-Nation Alliance, one that punished them harshly. It made China pay huge amounts of money, allowed foreign troops to stay in certain cities, and even demanded that government officials be punished or executed.
Chapter 1: The World Comes to China
The ships didn’t look like anything Chinese fishermen had ever seen. They were tall, made of dark wood and metal, and powered not just by wind, but by steam. They hissed and clanked as they pulled into port, their flags flapping in the wind—strange flags with stars, stripes, lions, and crosses. People gathered along the docks, staring, whispering, pointing. Something new had come to China.
The first thing those foreign ships brought was trade. But it wasn’t a friendly kind of trade where both sides agreed on what was fair. Foreign merchants—especially from Britain—wanted tea, silk, and porcelain. These were things China had made for hundreds of years, and they were prized around the world. In return, the Chinese expected silver or gold. They didn’t want wool coats, glass beads, or canned meats. They had their own products and their own way of doing business.
But when British merchants couldn’t get enough Chinese goods, they found something else to offer: opium. It was a drug that came from poppy plants. And even though it was addictive and harmful, it made people crave more. Chinese leaders begged the British to stop selling it. When they didn’t, it led to a war. China lost. After that, the rules changed—and not in China’s favor.
Foreign powers started carving out pieces of the country for themselves. They called them “spheres of influence.” These were areas where certain countries could build railroads, open banks, run factories, and even control the local police. It wasn’t exactly like being conquered, but it was close. If you were Chinese and wanted to fight back, there wasn’t much you could do. Foreign laws often protected the outsiders more than the local people.
Soon, missionaries began to arrive. Some came from Britain. Others came from the United States, France, or Germany. They didn’t come to trade, but to teach. They brought with them Christianity—a religion that was completely different from the beliefs most Chinese people followed. Instead of honoring ancestors or praying at temples, missionaries spoke of one God and told people to turn away from the old customs.
To some, this new religion seemed strange. To others, it seemed like an attack. Festivals that had gone on for centuries were now called “superstitions.” Temples were seen as useless. Even food offerings to ancestors were frowned upon. But the missionaries didn’t just preach. They built schools and hospitals. They helped the poor. They gave free lessons to children who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to read. That made some people curious. Others were thankful. A few converted.
But those who did were often treated differently by their neighbors. Some villagers thought they had betrayed their heritage. Others were jealous of the help they received. In places where life was already hard, this added even more tension.
As foreign influence grew, so did the physical changes to the land. Railroads began cutting through valleys and hills, powered by coal and steel. They didn’t follow the paths of old cart tracks or foot trails. They went in straight lines, even if that meant tearing through sacred land, farmland, or ancestral burial grounds. Villagers watched as teams of foreign engineers hammered down rails and drove massive stakes into the ground. The land that had once belonged to them was now crisscrossed by tracks they didn’t control.
The railroads brought goods and people faster than ever before. But they also brought problems. Bandits followed the trains, hoping to rob them. Animals were scared away by the noise. Farmlands were divided. In many towns, foreign companies controlled who could ride the trains and where they could go. Chinese people were sometimes forced to buy tickets from foreign-owned offices or were charged more for the same seat.
Even cities began to change. New buildings went up—tall ones with flat roofs, made of stone or brick instead of wood. Some had signs in English or French. There were churches with spires, banks with iron doors, and Western-style homes with glass windows and painted fences. These buildings didn’t look anything like the old tea houses or curved-roof temples that had been there before. And often, Chinese people weren’t allowed inside unless they worked as servants.
To many, it felt like two different worlds living side by side. In one world, foreign families wore suits and dresses, rode in horse-drawn carriages, and had guards at their gates. In the other, Chinese families kept to their traditions, walked through markets on foot, and hoped not to be pushed aside.
It wasn’t just about buildings and trains. It was about power. When a Chinese citizen and a foreigner got into a disagreement, the foreigner was usually protected by their country’s laws—even if the argument happened in China. If a foreigner broke a local rule, they might be taken to their own court, not a Chinese one. That made a lot of people feel helpless.