108 The Boxer Rebellion
Welcome to listen to Chinese history, but so, the author and the nodes are wrong, the country changes in the year of 1900. The failure of the reforms did not stop the worsening national crisis in China. In the late 1890s, a large number of foreign missionaries came to China under the guise of preaching, engaging in espionage activities and frequently deceiving the Chinese people. During this period, natural disasters struck the country, causing suffering among the people. American missionaries such as Haines, Fuller, and others established churches in places like Daliuzhuang, leading to the rapid growth of their influence. The behavior of these missionaries and their followers in the local villages became intolerable to the people, who spontaneously organized movements to resist imperialist aggression, giving rise to the Boxer Rebellion and the formation of secret societies in Shandong, Henan, and Zhili provinces. These organizations set up altars, practiced martial arts, and claimed that after drawing symbols and reciting spells, they could call upon spirits to make themselves invulnerable to weapons. In 1898, the members of the 'Righteous and Harmonious Fists' (Boxers) in Guan County, Shandong, under the leadership of Qian Dechang and others, officially initiated the Boxer Rebellion. They established a central altar in the House of Affairs in Hequan, Shandong, with the village as the basic organizational unit. The Boxer members were mainly poor farmers, artisans, urban commoners, small traders, and transport workers. The local population rose up to resist the church's influence in the region, leading to conflicts with the authorities. Eventually, the government sent troops to suppress the uprising, resulting in the Boxers engaging in battles with Qing troops. Following a series of confrontations, the Boxer Rebellion led to the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900. The signing of the Boxer Protocol in 1901, also known as the 'Boxer Indemnity,' marked the end of the Boxer Rebellion. This unequal treaty imposed heavy indemnities on China, allowed foreign troops to be stationed in Beijing, and severely restricted Chinese sovereignty, bringing disastrous consequences for the Chinese people and marking the country's transformation into a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society under imperialist rule.