Hudson Taylor’s arrival in China and the subsequent
establishment of the China Inland Mission (CIM) marked a whole new era in the
spread of Christianity in China, unparalleled in the empire’s millennia-long
history. No other missionary organization, not even the Catholic Church, had
covered such a wide geographical area and reached out to such a variety of
people within the Chinese empire as the CIM did. Of course, this is not to say
that other missionary organizations did not play significant roles in the
propagation of the gospel throughout the empire. As I have covered in the
previous part of this article, other missionary societies, such as the Baptist
Missionary Society (BMS) and the English Wesleyan Methodist Society, also
played major roles in advancing the gospel in unreached frontiers of the land,
and native Chinese pastors, such as Pastor Xi and Pastor Wang, also contributed
much in bringing the message of the gospel to their fellow countrymen.
By the turn of the 20th century,
Christianity, both Protestant and Catholic, became very successful and widely
accepted – so successful and widely accepted that it drew adequate attention
and opposition from certain segments of Chinese society to trigger off a bloody
uprising and atrocious war, what was known infamously as the Boxer Rebellion of
1899-1901 (义和团运动, Yìhétuán
Yùndòng). Claiming the lives of over 100,000 civilians, including
approximately 32,000 Chinese Christians and 200 missionaries, the great
rebellion resulted not only in massive massacres of Chinese Christians and
raging wars with foreign powers, but also a tremendous weakening of the Qing
Dynasty which eventually led to its downfall in 1911.
Artist's impression of foreign soldiers at war during the Boxer Rebellion of 1899 - 1901
Before delving further into the Boxer
Rebellion, let us first look at who the Boxers are. The Society of Righteous
and Harmonious Fists (义和拳, Yìhéquán)
was a secret society formed in the northern province of Shandong (山东, Shāndōng), consisting
largely of members drawn from the lower socioeconomic strata of society who
suffered from the effects of imperialism, opium addiction and natural
disasters. These members were mostly victims of natural disasters that occurred
with increasing frequency in the late 1800s in northern China. Besides, there
were also a large number of those whose livelihoods were adversely affected by
the influx of cheap European goods, resulting in mass unemployment and loss of
income.
Boxer rebels preparing to fight off Western powers in China
Members of the Society of Righteous and
Harmonious Fists or “Boxers,” as they were known to Westerners, practiced
traditional Chinese martial arts and underwent strict training, dieting and
rituals that were believed to enable them to attain invincible powers in order
to eliminate foreign influences from China. The Boxers initially directed their
anger and focus on the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, as they felt that the Qing
government was to be blamed for China’s increasing weakness in the face of
Western and Japanese imperialism. The failure of the Qing government in
defending the empire from foreign influences, coupled with the increasing
frequency of natural disasters in the late 1800s, was perceived as a divine
sign that the Qing Dynasty had lost its Mandate of Heaven (天命, Tiānmìng), and that it was
about time the Manchu-led dynasty be replaced with a native Han Chinese-led
dynasty that could have otherwise done a better job in defending China’s
sovereignty. Nonetheless, the Boxers redirected their anger and focus fully
onto the foreign powers in China when Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后, Cíxǐ Tàihòu) (1835 – 1908),
far from opposing the movement, declared support for it and ratified its
anti-foreign cause.
Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后, Cíxǐ
Tàihòu) (1835 – 1908)
Starting in the province of Shandong, the
Boxer Movement soon became a craze throughout northern China, especially in the
rural regions where victims were most hard-hit. They felt that the foreign
powers present in China were to be blamed for bringing poverty, economic
oppression, opium addiction and social ills to the Chinese society. “Revive the
Qing, destroy the foreigners” (扶清灭洋, Fú Qīng Miè
Yáng) was the saying commonly used by the movement’s leaders to rally the
masses into war against foreigners.
In China’s rural
background, Western missionaries were the most visible proof of foreign
presence and influence in the eyes of the locals. Increasing discontent from
the Boxers towards foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians largely stemmed
from the former’s fear of colonization and the latter’s extraterritorial rights
and protection granted by the Qing government. Foreign missionaries were
increasingly perceived and accused as agents of Western imperialism, and their
growing presence in many parts of China fuelled fears of eroding Chinese
sovereignty and impending colonization. Extraterritorial rights granted to
foreign missionaries in China included guarantee of free passage anywhere in
China, protection from various lawsuits and local laws, as well as exemption
from various taxes, some of which were also extended to Chinese Christians. Besides,
there were missionaries who showed grave insensitivity and understanding for
Chinese culture and customs. These served to incur dissatisfaction among much
of the non-Christian rural masses, and in particular the Boxers.
One of the earliest triggers of the Boxer
Rebellion was the Juye Incident, also known as the Caozhou Incident (曹州教案, Cáozhōu Jiào’àn). On
November 1, 1897, a band of about thirty armed men broke into a Catholic
missionary compound in Juye County (巨野县, Jùyĕ Xiàn),
Caozhou, in the province of Shandong, in which two German missionaries were
killed before the attackers were driven away by local Christian villagers. When
word of the murders reached Germany, the German government took this as a
pretext to occupy Jiaozhou Bay (胶州湾, Jiāozhōu
Wān) in the southern coast of Shandong Province under forced negotiations
with the Qing government. The Qing government was also pressured to remove many
top Shandong officials from their posts, build three Catholic churches in Caozhou
and compensate the mission for damages suffered from the incident. These helped
to strengthen Catholic missionary work in Shandong, simultaneously arousing the
wrath of the Boxers.
Artist's impression of Jiaozhou Bay during its German Occupation
Isolated assaults against foreign
missionaries and rural Chinese Christian communities increased in frequency
after the incident. Although often uncoordinated and bearing no overtly serious
outcomes, these series of assaults captured the attention of many European
governments, which then sought to gain more forced concessions from the Qing
government and increase their spheres of influence under the pretext of
“protecting their citizens” (i.e. the foreign missionaries). France, for
instance, succeeded in obtaining an imperial edict from Emperor Guangxu (光绪帝, Guāngxù Dì) (1871 – 1908)
that enabled Roman Catholic priests in China to support Chinese Catholics in
legal disputes without having to go through local officials.
By 1900, anger and anxiety towards impending
foreign colonization was already overflowing in much of northern China. Chinese
sovereignty was at stake, and imperialist powers such as Britain, France,
Russia, Japan and Germany were significantly increasing their spheres of
influence in different parts of the empire. It was feared that if the situation
were to continue, China might soon be broken into separate parts, each ruled by
a colonial power. Christianity and opium were thus increasingly despised as foreign
imports manipulated by Western powers to control the minds and hearts of the
Chinese in order to achieve their colonizing goals.
French caricature depicting China as a cake that is about to be carved up by Queen Victoria (Britain), Emperor Wilhelm II (Germany), Tsar Nicholas II (Russia), Marianne (France) and a samurai (Japan), while a Chinese official helplessly looks on
1900 was a year that saw a myriad of
aggressions and tragedies against foreigners and Christians throughout northern
China. Early that year, Empress Dowager Cixi issued a series of decrees
declaring open support for the Boxer movement, consequently drawing protests
from foreign powers and driving the Boxers and its supporters into further
boldness. Throughout the spring of 1900, numerous churches were burnt and
countless Chinese Christians became victims of the Boxers’ aggression in the
provinces of Shandong and modern-day Hebei (河北, Hébĕi),
near the imperial capital of Beijing.
The movement quickly spread throughout the
north as it made its way towards the imperial capital. Foreseeing the dangers
that were about to occur, foreign diplomats in Beijing made a united call for
foreign soldiers to be employed to protect the foreigners residing there. The
Qing government was also pressured into providing troops to suppress the
movement, which it reluctantly acquiesced. Nonetheless, the Boxers were simply
too large in numbers to be suppressed in the flash of an eye. Foreign troops
could not be sent in large numbers in time, and Qing troops were reluctant to
do much against their own countrymen.
Boxer troops and foreign soldiers engaging in battle during the Boxer Rebellion
Boldness and assured support from the Empress
Dowager propelled the Boxers into further aggression. On June 5, the railway
line from Beijing to the port-city of Tianjin was severed by the Boxers,
effectively cutting off Beijing’s contact with the rest of the world.
Aggression continued, and on June 13 the Boxers murdered a Japanese diplomat in
the imperial capital. That same day, several German soldiers in the capital
also reportedly captured a Boxer boy and executed him. News about the execution
spread like wildfire and brewed the anger of the thousands of Boxers who had
already gathered in Beijing. As a result, they went on a free rampage
throughout the capital, burning churches and foreign homes, desecrating foreign
graves and ruthlessly murdering any Chinese Christian they could spot. Many of
the foreign residents and missionaries in the capital managed to take refuge
and were protected by the soldiers stationed on duty at the foreign embassies
in Beijing.
Boxer rebels full of spirit to wage war against foreign presence in China
From merely expressing support for the Boxer
movement all along, Empress Dowager Cixi finally issued a drastic edict on June
19 proclaiming the severing of diplomatic ties between the Qing government and
all foreign nations. Under the edict, all diplomats were required to leave
China in 24 hours time under military protection. These orders were perceived
by the foreign legations as a ploy by the Empress Dowager herself to eliminate
all foreign diplomats in China. Their fears were indeed proven when the German
envoy to China was murdered by a mob in the streets the following day.
Following the murder, none of the foreign legations heeded the Empress
Dowager’s orders, but instead chose to take refuge in their embassies, enduring
continuous hostilities from the Boxers until August 14, when an 18,000-strong
combined army sent from several nations including Japan, Russia, Britain,
France and the United States arrived in Beijing. The army proceeded to clear
the city of the Boxers and rescue the foreign legations, while the Empress
Dowager and Emperor Guangxu clandestinely evacuated the imperial court in
Beijing to take temporary refuge in Xi’an (西安, Xī’ān).
"Fall of the Peking Castle" - an illustration dating back to September 1900 depicting British and Japanese soldiers assaulting Chinese troops
As far as aggression towards Chinese
Christians were concerned, the Taiyuan Massacre (太原教案, Tàiyuán
Jiào’àn) was one of the most widely recorded tragedies of the Boxer
Rebellion. Under the orders of Yuxian (毓贤, Yùxián)
(1842 – 1901), the Manchu governor of Shanxi Province, 45 foreign missionaries,
both Protestants and Catholics, as well as countless other Chinese Christians,
were gruesomely murdered on July 9, 1900. Yuxian had purportedly invited
foreign missionaries to the provincial capital of Taiyuan under the pretext of
promising them protection, but instead turned against them and ordered their
immediate decapitation before having their bodies thrown out of the city walls
for dogs to eat. Chinese Christians were then proactively hunted for, and many,
including women and children, were mercilessly killed by beheading. Those who
survived managed to flee the province, but not few of them died during the
journey before reaching their destinations.
The Boxer Rebellion claimed more than 100,000
lives in total, including an estimated 32,000 Chinese Christians throughout
northern China. Of all missionary organizations in China, the CIM suffered the
biggest loss, with 58 missionaries and 21 children killed. Taylor was
semi-retired in Switzerland due to deteriorating health when news of the riots
and massacres reached him via telegrams. It was too much for him, and he nearly
died of a heart attack upon receiving news after news of attacks, violence and
murders committed against missionaries and Chinese Christians almost every day.
“I cannot read, I cannot pray, I can scarcely think…but I can trust.” When the
foreign nations were demanding compensations for the loss of property and life
from the Qing government in 1901, Taylor refused to accept any payment of
indemnities for the CIM in order to demonstrate the meekness and gentleness of
Christ to the Chinese. Despite criticisms from some parties, he won the respect
and admiration of many Chinese and European officials alike for his noble
decision. The following year, Taylor resigned from all duties in the CIM, and
surrendered its directorship fully to Dixon Edward Hoste (1861 – 1946).
Dixon Edward Hoste (1861 - 1946) and CIM missionaries in traditional Chinese clothing
The late Qing Dynasty era saw an upsurge of
missionary activities and a significant expansion of Chinese Christian
communities throughout the Middle Kingdom. From the coastal port cities and the
imperial capital to the innermost provinces of the empire, pockets of
flourishing Chinese Christian communities, both Protestant and Catholic, could
be found by the turn of the 20th century. Although the Boxer
Rebellion, which affected only the northern provinces of China, brought much
unfortunate repercussions to Christianity in China as a whole, it did help renew
much missionary interest in the eyes of the Western world and strengthen the
faith of Christian communities throughout the land. In that spirit, missionary
activities continued to grow even after the rebellion, driven by both Chinese
and foreign missionaries, and Christian communities continued to flourish in
almost every province throughout the land. And it was in that spirit also, the burning
spirit to bring the gospel to China’s millions of people, that Hudson Taylor
himself started a newsletter to bring news of the CIM’s numerous activities in
China back to his homeland, in order to sow the seeds of interest towards
Chinese missions amongst his fellow countrymen – China’s Millions.
Cover of the 1885 issue of China's Millions
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