This book's view: No matter how pure and righteous the Boxers are described in the history books, they cannot change the heavy damage caused by the Boxers to the Chinese people in the Gengzi Incident. The descriptions in the following reprinted articles may be inaccurate and distorted. But on the whole, the specific casualties caused by the Boxers in the Gengzi Incident are incalculable, and the property damage they caused and the bad political impact they caused afterwards are immeasurable. It is fair to say that the Boxer Rebellion not only contributed nothing to China, but was a great sin, and we can no longer judge them, but we must repent. We don't have to worry about foreigners, but we must repent for the disseminators and researchers of Western culture, such as the Chinese teachers and students who died in the Boxer Rebellion! Repent for Luo Rongguang and General Nie Shicheng, who had to sacrifice their lives for the country due to the Boxer Rebellion, as well as other anonymous people who did not leave their names! Repent for the enlightened merchants who died in the Boxer Rebellion! Repent for the innocent people who died in the Boxer Rebellion!

Reprinted from Iron Blood Reading Author: Shen Hong

Website: http://www./Book19047/Content930079.html

Since the nineteen-nineties, the Boxers, with their broad mass base, have been resisting foreigners, Christians, missionaries, and even the Qing government, and any development initiatives that the United States would attempt to pursue in China. By 1894, there were more than 2,000 foreign missionaries in China, and 800,000 Chinese Christians who had been converted under their influence. The missionary activities in China played a positive role in the development of women's health and education, but they also caused significant damage to Chinese society by imposing Western morality on traditional Chinese society. (4) The Boxer Rebellion in China preached that as long as they adhered to their belief in Chinese traditions, they could give their followers supernatural powers to expel foreigners, claiming that Boxers could resist the bullets of foreigners as long as they learned the golden bell jar. (5) The Boxers believed that the magnitude of a person's magic power could be measured by his devotion to traditional beliefs. ⑥

In 1900 in the northern regions of Shandong and Hebei provinces, the Boxers launched riots against Christian missionaries and Chinese believers who believed that they had used the power of the Outer Brigades to settle property disputes, interfere in religious activities and folk festivals, and improperly influence the decision-making of Qing officials. (7) During this period, the introduction of ** from Britain to China caused a large number of Chinese to indulge in it, causing serious social chaos. According to the estimation of historian Shi Jingqian, of the 40 million Chinese who used ** in 1900, 15 million were addicted to **. Fairbank commented in China: ANew History (2006): "This means that the ratio of Christians to **ghosts is 1:15. ”①

After killing many missionaries and Chinese Christians, the Boxers gathered their strength and gathered their strength to reach Beijing, and besieged the foreign legations in Beijing, launching the famous siege. (2) While some Qing government officials did not approve of the Boxers, others were more conservative and included them in the local militias. (3) When the powerful Empress Dowager Cixi urged the Boxers to help the Qing Dynasty expel the "foreign devils", she stood with the Boxers, but this move was an ominous omen. In order to ensure that Japan and the nations of Europe would not completely swallow China as compensation for their Boxer attacks, U.S. Secretary of State John Hyde published the second Notes on Open Doors (1900), which established U.S. interests in China. ④

Beginning in late May 1900, the Boxers began massacring Christians in China, destroying telegraph lines, churches, and the railway station to Beijing. (5) When they arrived in Beijing, the front shifted. As Max Bout put it in Savage WarsofPeace (2002), "What began as a rebellion within China has now turned into a war between China and the Eight-Nation Coalition of Western powers and Japan." (6) The U.S. ** team is mainly used to defend the U.S. legation in Beijing. Fortunately, in order to suppress the rebellion in the Philippines, a large number of US troops were already in the Philippines, which facilitated the movement of troops and made this defense easier. There are many factors that influence the decision-making of these U.S. troops stationed overseas, such as the relative isolation of the U.S. legation guards during the Boxer Siege, and the regular communication channels were cut off; The distance between Washington and North China has prevented President McKinley and Secretary of State John Hymers from being involved in some important decisions, among other things. (7) McKinley mobilized nearly 4,000 American soldiers to join the Eight-Nation Alliance, all the way to Beijing. (8) Many Boxers and foreigners died in this riot besieging the British Legation. The Empress Dowager Cixi was forced to leave the 500-year-old Qing Dynasty palace of the Forbidden City and fled with her attendants to Shaanxi, where she was not able to return to Luan until 1902. ①

The Boxer siege of the foreign legations lasted 45 days, during which the defense of the U.S. Legation in Beijing by the U.S. Marines and Navy was well documented. Some of the photographs taken by Woods and Frost reflect the aftermath of this conflict. (2) For example, the photograph numbered CH2604 captures the inscription "LESTWEFORGET" on the outer wall of the British Legation, which was inscribed by Sir Dou Nale after the siege of the British Legation was lifted. The wall has cracked under the shelling. On 19 June 1900, Sir Douglas, the British Minister to China, sent an urgent telegram to Sir Edward Seymour, Deputy Commander of the British Navy in Tianjin, saying that the situation in Beijing was "extremely grave" and that "it will be too late unless troops are brought into Beijing at once." (3) He feared that he would be attacked by the Boxers immediately.

In his letter, Francis W. Frost also describes the Clint Archway, which was built by the Qing government to satisfy a clause of the Treaty of Xincho. (00340) Woods photograph numbered CH2301 shows a large group of Chinese and Americans gathered in front of the Clinder archway. Among the various articles of the Treaty of Xincho was a clause requiring the Qing government to build a monument to commemorate the more than 200 Westerners killed in the Boxer Rebellion. (4) During the siege, at 10 o'clock in the morning of June 20, the impulsive German minister, Baron Klinder, in order to buy more time, went to the prime minister's national affairs yamen in a sedan chair carried by "coolies", smoking a cigar and reading a book. He took with him only translators and servants, and there were no German marines with him to protect him. Clint refused to acknowledge the fact that he had been targeted by the Boxers, as he had once whipped a Boxer member in the embassy district. (1) He didn't go far before he was hit in the back of the head by Qing soldiers. His interpreter was also shot, but he managed to make it back to the embassy area.

After the Eight-Nation Coalition occupied Beijing, the Germans confirmed that the culprit of Klinder's murder was Enhai, the captain of the Qing army's Shenji Battalion, and beheaded Enhai at the scene of Klinde's killing. Eunhae declared that he was merely carrying out orders from his superiors. (2) In the letter, Frost also records other damage caused by this siege. He said that "this state of decay in many temples and buildings in and around Beijing was caused by the occupation of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Coalition in 1900." (00342) During the delegation's visit to the Forbidden City, Frost also noticed that many of the buildings had just been renovated, as they were destroyed by a fire in 1900. （00346）

The foreign embassy district is a small area of 85 acres that is home to representatives from 11 countries, more than 900 Europeans, including 158 women and children, and more than 3,000 Chinese Christians. Outside the embassy quarter, at the Xishiku Catholic Church, thousands of Chinese Catholics have sought refuge there. (3) During the siege, the Chinese Christians suffered the most brutal ordeal due to the hoarding of food by the Europeans. As the American historian Max Bout put it: "Towards the end of the siege, the starving Chinese believers had to start eating the bark and leaves, while the Europeans were still enjoying champagne." ”④

In the final days of the siege, only 408 foreign soldiers and 125 male volunteers defended the foreign embassy district with considerable weapons, while they were confronted by thousands of besieging Qing officers and soldiers and Boxers. The besiegers switched to fire as a weapon, wanting to smoke out the resisters. They set fire to the embassies of Italy, Belgium, France, Austria and the Netherlands. On June 23, they also set fire to the Hanlin Temple, which contains important ancient Confucian texts. Those Chinese who want to save these precious works are more than capable of doing so. Many historians have speculated about why the Chinese could not catch turtles in urns and expel foreigners from the British legation. The following two points illustrate the final defeat of the Chinese side: (1) compared to the Boxer Rebellion, the Manchu officials who served the Empress Dowager Cixi were not happy to kill foreigners, so they did not actively participate in the siege of the embassy in Beijing; (2) The Chinese did not use the most advanced Krupp cannons, which could destroy the embassy district in a short time. (1) Bout describes: "The ambivalence of intent in the attacking camp gave the siege an exaggerated, unreal feel, much like a Peking Opera performance. But if the Chinese soldiers were merely playing a game of cat and mouse with the people in the British legation, it was undoubtedly dangerous for all involved. ”②

While Western missionaries and Chinese Christians in Beijing were suffering, Chinese Christians in rural North China suffered an even more brutal fate when the Boxers massacred more than 200 people there. On June 4, in Zhili, near Beijing, many members of Chinese Christian families were burned alive. In shocking tone, Boot wrote: "When a young woman escaped from the fire, the Boxers cut open her abdomen with a sword. One could hear the sound of her skin peeling off her bones. Other Boxers grabbed her by the legs and arms and threw her into the fire again. (1) Although some Christian missionaries and Chinese Christians have given their lives or possessions for their faith and their devastating impact on China, they have provided cultural incentives for the popularization of education in China through the establishment of schools and universities, and they have promoted the development of health care and women's rights. In the nineteen-nineties, more than 500 Christian missionaries enrolled nearly 17,000 students in the church schools they founded. ②

Between 1890 and 1905, the number of missionaries in China doubled. (3) President Roosevelt and later Taft and Wilson realized that the cultural influence of missionaries could potentially limit Japanese influence in China. (4) When nationalist reformers collaborated with missionaries, the most enduring influence of Christian missionaries was in the education of adult women and little girls. Through education and illustrated articles in newsletters, they helped abolish women's foot-binding in China. (5) In 1904, the Empress Dowager Cixi issued an edict against women's foot binding. As Jane Hunt put it in her book The Gospel of Gentility (1984): "The missionaries have done an excellent job in promoting the early education of Chinese women, and this is a request of our supporters, even of our critics." ”⑥

Francis W. Frost made many comments on the Gengzi Incident and its results, which were scattered throughout his letters. He recorded that the idea of taking precautions against many of the buildings around the embassy district would be taken to avoid further impacts. (00337) He also noticed that many extremely valuable treasures were "looted" by the Eight-Nation Alliance during the Gengzi Incident. (00341) He believes that the destruction of temples and buildings in and around Beijing was due to the occupation of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Coalition in 1900. (00342) Describing a visit to the Winter Palace in the Forbidden City, he said that many of the buildings were brand new, as the fire in 1900 destroyed most of the buildings around the palace.