China: The Asian Civilization - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 235

Figure 16.2. Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer rebels took their name from the stance used in Chinese boxing. Infused
with mysticism, the Boxers believed that their raised-fist stance would protect them from
western bullets. The climax of rebellion was the Boxer siege of foreign legations in Peking,
lifted after nearly two months by the guns of an international force of British, Americ-
an, Japanese, and Russian troops. To complete its humiliation, China agreed to pay an in-
demnity, to suspend imperial examinations in towns and cities where foreigners had been
harmed or ill-treated, and to permit foreign troops to remain on station in Peking (most re-
mained there until the Second World War).
To its credit and reflecting the long affection of American missionaries for China, the
United States used its share of the indemnity for the education of Chinese students. No reli-
able statistics tally the number of Chinese killed during the rebellion, but photographs and
firsthand accounts describe in vivid detail the beheading of several hundred captured Box-
er soldiers. The memory of the rebellion has burned deep into Chinese memory (looting
by foreign troops, killing of Chinese civilians, the indemnity). When the Communists took
over China in 1949, one of their leaders called the Boxer revolt one of the great victories
of the Chinese people.
THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR (1894-95)
The Sino-Japanese War was another stab in the heart of national pride. For centuries China
had laid a protective arm over Korea. But as Japan “westernized,” it emulated the West:
modernizing its military forces and aggressively seeking territory, markets, and raw mater-
ials. When a Korean religious cult attempted to topple the Korean monarchy, Japan inter-
vened on the pretext of restoring order. The Manchu government also sent troops, but after
the revolt ended, Japan refused to withdraw its armies. In a quick war, the Japanese crushed
Chinese land and naval forces. In the treaty that followed, China abandoned its protection
of Korea (thereby recognizing Japan's predominance) and, worse, paid a large indemnity
to Japan.
For centuries, China had executed prisoners by means of a torture called the thousand
cuts, literally skinning alive the prisoner bit by tiny bit. After the humiliations imposed by
the West and compounded by Japan, many Chinese began to see China and its Manchu
overlords as dying the death of a thousand cuts.
As the nineteenth century ended, China was in danger of being carved into colonies
by the European powers, much as Africa was. China's staunchest guardian was the United
States, whose China policy was shaped by long involvement of American missionaries in
China, long-established American schools in China, and American colleges that offered
scholarships to young Chinese. In many ways, it was a friendship toward China that rested