The primary objective of the Boxer Rebellion was to destroy foreign presence, including missionaries and Christian converts. Once imperial support was secured, the insurgents launched a sweeping hunt for foreigners, ultimately suppressed in blood by an international expeditionary force.

At the heart of the Forbidden City, Emperor Guangxu undertakes radical reforms to reshape Chine as a country modeled on the industrialized Western nations. His choices earn him the hostility of the most conservative members of the court, including Prince Duan, who view him as under the sway of foreigners.

Far from the capital's preoccupations, in Shandong Province, the secret society of the "Righteous and Harmonious Fists," composed primarily of unemployed young peasants and impoverished people practicing martial arts under the guidance of "Boxing masters," organizes itself. These individuals display growing aversion toward the "foreign demons" as well as their products and technologies.

From 1898 onward, railway lines financed by German investors are sabotaged. In response, Westerners massacre some ten Chinese civilians and destroy about a hundred houses along the railway. This incident only fuels Boxer hatred. Demonstrations of force follow, including the assassination of British missionary Sydney Brooks in 1899, then repeated attacks by Boxers on Christian Chinese.

Now supported by imperial authority—the Dowager Empress Cixi wishing to use the rebellion to defeat foreign powers—many Boxers enter the capital without facing any resistance.

For their part, Westerners concentrate an international fleet on Chine's coasts and bring more than 350 soldiers from the Eight-Nation Coalition into Beijing. This forced entry is experienced as humiliation by Chine.

The 55 Days of Beijing

The assassination of the German ambassador in Beijing by the Boxers seals the fate of the Westerners who refuse the Dowager Empress Cixi's ultimatum: instead of leaving, foreign nationals prepare to withstand a siege in Beijing's legation quarter. Reinforcements from the international fleet do not arrive as expected, repeatedly overwhelmed by Boxers, particularly at Tianjin.

The besieged must resist 55 days of combined attacks from Boxers and the imperial army, adapting to precarious conditions: dwindling ammunition and food supplies, cases of dysentery. The 3,000 converted Chinese sheltered in the legation quarter live in deplorable conditions, crowded together and abandoned by Westerners who provide them with only minimum food rations.

The situation deteriorates. The imperial court loses control of its army and the Boxers prepare to launch their final assault. But the long-awaited international expeditionary force of 14,000 men finally enters the capital. The Empress and imperial court take flight, and on August 15, 1900, international troops take possession of the Forbidden City, marking the end of one of Chine's most humiliating events.

Repression and Chine's Humiliation

Chine is forced to submit to foreign demands with the signing of a "peace" protocol on September 7, 1901, between the Qing government, returned to the Forbidden City since January 16, 1901, and the eight foreign nations.

The Chinese must remove mandarins who supported the Boxers. Protection of the legation quarters in Beijing is reinforced and placed under exclusive Western control, with strict prohibition of access to Chinese residents. Humiliation reaches its apex with mandatory payment of war indemnities to the Westerners totaling 450 million taels in gold over 39 years—a sum representing four times the annual tax revenue.

Westerners also force Chinese government consent to demolish the Taku Forts, which protected the estuary of the Hai He River, and any other obstacle liable to impede free communication between Beijing and the coast. Chine also loses honor in once again witnessing its military inferiority before foreigners, who prohibit, through the protocol, arms imports for two years.

Beyond the severe punishments inflicted by the protocol, the Chinese endure heavy repression. Foreign powers demand the execution or exile of figures who supported the Boxer Rebellion. Several officials are beheaded and others removed from office for allowing anti-foreign movements to develop.