Causes Of The Boxer Rebellion

The situation in China leading to the Boxer rebellion was filled with many contributing factors from the changing of local customs to an increase in pressure from foreign religions to convert more Chinese in more rural areas with all of these factors its impossible to nail down a single reason for causing the conditions needed for the rebellion to happen. In chapter 2.1 taking sides the causes of the Boxer Rebellion are explained from two separate viewpoints on what caused the unrest that made this conflict happen. The two writers are Paul A. Cohen and Henrietta Harrison and their respective papers are “drought and foreign presence,” History in Three Keys: The Boxers in Event, Experience and Myth by Cohen and “Justice on Behalf of Heaven”

China under the Qing was extremely weak with little power over many of the provinces of the empire with local governors having more power and say then the central government causing a weak decentralized government. With a weak government the Qing couldn’t deal with issues that were filling their country this didn’t allow a strong response to deal with crisis such as drought or social upheaval. Cohen believes that the fear of drought and the anxiety this caused made Chinese look for something to blame for the drought and the scapegoat that was used was Christians and foreign influence. In the countryside there was a strong Buddhist presence with many blaming the drought on the anger of the gods due to the presence of Christians tainting the land. Cohen still blames the majority of the crisis that caused the rebellion on the fear and anxiety caused by the drought stating “although the precise mix of factors was thus variable the drought was shared in common throughout the north china plain. It was this factor, more than any other in my judgement, that

“The issue of Catholic refusal to participate in the religious practices of the local community became particularly powerful and problematic in the summer of 1900 because of the fear of drought. Drought was a constant threat to the northern china plain” . Looking into this you can see that the drought was a factor that did create part of the problem helping escalate the anxiety and tension that already existed between Christian and traditional Chinese Religions. Without Christians in northern china no violence would have happened on such a scale as the boxer rebellion. Traditionalist Chinese believe that the Christians are the main force causing the drought and any other disruption to the traditional system that was in place for thousands of years. A quote by a supporter of the rebellion shows this growing frustration at Christians challenging the traditions that existed in the Qing empire “When the barbarians preach their religion, they say they are urging men to do good, but in fact they are disrupting our government, creating turmoil in our system, destroying our customs and deceiving our people; is to say they want to turn the people of china into barbarians”.