Final+Script+Including+Conclusion

**Introduction:** What was the Boxer Rebellion?The Boxer Rebellion was a nationalist movement that started at the end of the 19th century and culminated with the Boxer war in 1900-1901.Nationalism was not a prominent aspect of Chinese society until the 19th century, when it truly came into direct contact with Western countries. The Boxer Rebellion would be the start of China's trend towards a nation-state.
 * Script **

**What started it?** There were multiple causes for the rebellion. A major cause was Christian missionaries, who entered China in the early 19th century and managed to convert some Chinese people to Christianity. Not just the religion itself, but also the rate at which Christianity was growing was a concern. At the time, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism were the three favoured religions (and formed an alliance) – with Confucianism being favoured for “ethical judgement” (Chen:291).Initiated by a group known as ‘The Society of Righteous Fists’, otherwise known as ‘Boxers’. The negative sentiment towards foreigners was fuelled by the Boxers themselves and assisted by the perceived invasion of foreign values, people and ideas.The pressure from foreign powers was another issue. Opium trading is an example of ways foreign powers forced China to open up for their own financial and diplomatic benefit. The combination of these was enough to finally convince Empress Dowager Cixi, the then ruler of the Manchu Qing dynasty, to no longer suppress the Boxers in 1900.To help create anti-foreign sentiment, prose and slogans were posted in villages and cities. The slogans were known for their lack of ambiguity, often directly targeting Christians. An example of that is 'Protect our country, drive out foreigners, and kill Christians' (Chen:293). **Boxer War:**The outbreak of war was the peak of the rebellion and the confrontation between the 'Eight Nation Alliance' (Russia, Japan, USA, Britain, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and the Boxers.On the 21st of June 1900, The Qing government declared war on all Christians and allied foreigners (Chen:293). This marked the official beginning of the Boxer war and saw many Boxer members and Christians (Chinese and foreign) slain. The 'Siege of Peking' occurred in the same year, and was the combined effort of the alliance to defend their citizens and Chinese christians from the Boxer fighters. This was relieved after the 'Battle of Peking', which resulted in an allied victory and the control of Peking. One year later, the 'Boxer Protocol' was signed and the Boxer Rebellion had officially ended.


 * I’ll Try Sir! – painting**

Depicts the first assault on Peking, at the height of the Boxer War. According to the US military website, volunteers were called upon to scale the city wall. The first one to do so was Trumpeter Calvin P. Titus, who stepped forward saying "I'll try, sir!" For being the first to climb the wall, Trumpeter Titus was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour.


 * Can be compared to the very dramatic posters and slogans by the Boxers
 * No Chinese men to be seen – purely American
 * Flag - claiming Peking as their own – possession
 * Power – Does not show the hostages being freed, but the might of the US military
 * Propaganda
 * American version of nationalism during the war/post-war

**The Boxers** The Boxers were also known, among other things, as the Society of Righteous Fists or the Righteous Fists of Harmony, and they were a (not so) secret society (one of many). They were called ‘boxers’ by foreigners due to the rigorous martial arts and gymnastics they practiced.They were a Chinese nationalist movement originating from the Shandong province on the coast of northern China. They consisted largely but not entirely of farmers, peasants and others who had lost their livelihoods to western imperialism.The Boxers believed that these practices in combination with prayer and a proper diet, among other things, would grant them, essentially, super powers. These powers included invulnerability and flight. It was partially due to this belief of invulnerability that the Boxers used swords instead of guns.The boxers didn’t want westerners or Christianity in their country. As previously mentioned many of them had lost their livelihoods to westerners. They saw Christianity and the growing western influence as going hand-in-hand and as a result, had no like for Christianity either. It wasn’t just European Christians they disliked, but also Chinese Christians. They had a slogan //Fu-qing mie-yang// which translates as “Support the Qing, Destroy the Foreign” (Esherick, 1987:68).The Boxers lived their life, following a set of rules. These are: Boxer leaders blamed boxer deaths on a failure to follow these rules (Esherick, 1987:295). If a Boxer soldier died in battle, it was claimed that he mustn’t have obeyed these and as a result he was not invulnerable.Initially the movement wasn’t a violent one and they focused more on helping their fellow Chinese. It wasn’t until reports about unprovoked attacks on Chinese locals by foreigners that they started the violence (** Beals **, 1901:19). IN addition to this there were also cases of Christians making and enforcing their own laws, adding to the resolve of the boxers.Script goes here.
 * § Do not covert wealth
 * § Do not lust after women
 * § Do not disobey your parents
 * § Do not violate Imperial laws
 * § Eradicate the foreigners
 * § Kill corrupt officials
 * § When you walk on the streets, keep your head lowered, looking neither left nor right
 * § When you meet a fellow member, greet him with hands clasped together

**How China established a sense of community during the 19th Century** **History -** ** Establishment of nationalism in China ** China, at the turn of the century, specifically in the year 1985 had been defeated by Japan and lost power over Korea. This established great humiliation in China as they had always been considered a stronger nation to Japan and Korea. As a result the society in China began finding reasons to why this had occurred (as it hadn’t ever occurred before). A large sector of the community, including some parts of the government, believes that this defeat was the blame of the Europeans. Due to the fact that they were dominant in China at the time and that they were controlling most aspects of Chinese welfare, whether politically, economically, and socially. With further examination and social unrest, Europeans were seen to be driving China’s domestic and foreign policy into a ‘black hole’ which in turn ultimately only benefitted the Europeans. Once the word spread, Europeans were seen as cruel enemies of the country. By the end of the 19th century, nationalism swept across the country in the determination that they could reclaim __China for the Chinese people (__**Ch'ên, Jerome, 1960).**

** There are three main incentives within the establishment of nationalism and ‘rebellionism’ in China at the time: ** Within the presentation I will discuss the first two points, however due to the scale of Religion during the Uprising of the Boxer Rebellion, Lorin will then discuss it with you.Firstly, society evidently plays an important role in the uprising of any countries nationalistic pride, especially in China and Chinese belief. China is a large country that without the support of its people in the aim of their countries development, whether economically or politically or even environmentally, without followers it limits motivation and incentive to develop. In the case of China, however, a sense of nationalism had been within history for centuries and ironically all nationalistic idealism had been acquired and influenced by foreign cultures (Marxism, American progressivism) and traditional Chinese Thinking. Therefore giving itself an image of a multi-ethnic state. As history passed, Chinese Thinking developed into a strong sense of community and nationalistic pride. This in turn was tested when Japan overthrew Chinese power in 1985, and soon after, its loss of power over Korea. Speculation began arising amongst the civilians of China as who to blame for these great losses, and ultimately the western powers were blamed. The people of China also speculated whether the government was also to blame as they appeared weak and unable to tell the foreign powers to leave. Thus a division in state between the people, the government, and the foreign powers.Which brings me to the second point. Politically and economically China was weak during the 19th century and therefore allowed the foreign powers to dominate its economy (in the belief that it would improve situations). In reality, however, Great Britain and the United States had successfully pressed the Chinese imperial government into providing various economic and political concessions which were more to the advantage of the western powers than they were the Chinese. Resulting in a growth of patriotic force to regain the economy and establish a political power.Both aspects of nationalism in China led to the Uprising of the Boxer Rebellion in the fight towards establishing new order in China.
 * 1) Society: Humiliation and Pride
 * 2) Politically and Economically: Government Strength
 * 3) Elimination of religion: Christianity

**Religion and the Rebellion** As Alexandra mentioned, religion was a large influencing factor in the uprising of the Boxer Rebellion. From a historical perspective, China has managed to connect their religious beliefs in the majority to their political ideology and sense of unity. The clashing of these three factors generally leads to instability, particularly in China: an example of this is Confucianism and it’s place in Communist China, both when the communist party was originally established, and particularly nowadays with the questioning of whether Confucian values align with communist ones. This includes local protests. In regards to the Boxer Rebellion, many Chinese at that time followed Buddhism and Daoism, with a small population still adhering to Confucianism (Cohen, 2002).

Currently, there are many diary entries that were published by the Chinese Historical Association that substantiate the way in which the Chinese believed Christianity to be a problem (Poon, 2009). In China, the “fear of westernization”, or the inability to accept overwhelming foreign influence to help build and run their state, meant that the large numbers of missionaries sent from Europe were seen as a threat to the Chinese nation state through religious influence. This factor is also tied to what Alexandra mentioned, due to the heavy influence of the West in the past; the Chinese believed that by combining religious belief to their state ideology, they were on the road to creating a new nation state based only on their own merits.

Why was Christianity believed to be such a threat if the majority were Buddhist and Daoist? Well, there was tension in regard to the survival of such religious practices in a modern state (Poon, 2009). Christianity was thriving in the West, and so was functional in a modern state setting; however the Chinese disliked the idea of being so closely tied with the West. In addition to this, it was expected that these religious ideals would be subordinate in comparison to the political and state ideology, like I mentioned about Communism and Confucianism. An example of this during the Rebellion is that monasteries in Guangzhou had government recognition as symbols of ‘true religion’ and as such served as protective shields so that the people of China could continue their religious practices almost in secret (Poon, 2009). The uncertainties surrounding the ‘national religion’ of China led to local instability and helped the European missionaries exert their influence, turning people toward Christianity.' According to recovered documents, at the end of the Rebellion, many of the Chinese that began practicing Christianity were executed (Rhoads, 1975). From a religious perspective, the Rebellion was successful in its suppression of the spread of Christianity, and achieved its goal.

In a nutshell, the base of the rebellion is generally classified as the Chinese feeling threatened by the influence of the West too heavily and wanted to establish their own society, through their own political systems and beliefs, including religion. The Boxers were seen as a group that stood for the good of the entire state, and represented the ‘wants’ of China at the time, despite them also having individual motives. The Boxers themselves were an important symbol of Chinese nationalism, and continue to be today. In conclusion, the painting depicts how China’s nationalism ultimately fought off unwanted foreign attacks and interventions.