1911: Imperial Upheavals Flashcards
(226 cards)
Why were they called ‘boxers’?
Because they practiced martial arts, known at the time as Chinese boxing.
When was the Boxer Rebellion?
1899-1901
What was the goal of the Boxer Rebellion?
Restore moral order and community solidarity that was threatened by foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians in particular.
What did the Boxers blame the floods and droughts at the end of the 19th century on?
Foreign and Christian influence.
What were the Boxers fighting against?
Anti-foreign, anti-colonial, anti-Christian.
Who were the Boxers?
Loosely affiliated groups of angry young peasants.
What was the banner of the Boxers?
“Support the Qing, destroy the foreign.”
What did the Boxers think Christians did?
Incest, poison wells, created armies out of paper, mad people go mad, refused to pray to village Gods to make it rain.
What was it about Christians that angered the Boxers the most?
Refused to pray to village Gods to make it rain, blaming the droughts on this as God’s anger.
Who ruled China at the turn of the twentieth century?
Empress Dowager Cixi
When did Empress Dowager Cixi declare war on all foreign powers?
June 21 1900
What did Empress Dowager Cixi hope to do by declaring war on all foreign powers?
Restore Chinese power by capitalising on the growing anti-Western sentiment.
Who made up the foreign powers that Cixi and the Boxers were fighting against?
Britain, Germany, Russia, France, Italy, US, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Japan.
What was the name of the forces of the foreigners Cixi and the Boxers were opposed to?
Eight-Power Expedition
Who provided the most troops for the invading forces in China?
Japan
When did the Eight-Power Expedition invade China?
1900
What was the Yellow Peril?
The idea that the people of East and Southeast Asia represented a threat to the Western world.
What did the Boxers become a symbol of for later Chinese?
The potentials of popular resisitance and righteousness.
Why did the Western powers not want the Qing dynasty to fall?
The power vaccum might cause conflict between the Western powers and Japan.
What was the informal colonization of China?
The expanding ‘spheres of influence’ by the Eight-Power Expedition forces after the Bpxer rebellion that wanted a Chinese government to remain in place.
Why were the Qing seen as foreign?
They were part of the Manchu race.
What did a Chinese delegation do in 1906?
Travel to Japan, Europe, and the United States to study their constitutions.
What did Cixi begin to implement in the aftermath of the Boxer uprising?
A series of New Policy reforms.
What did the New Policy reforms of Cixi aim to do?
Streamline and modernise the government; a better equipped and disciplined army; a new state school system.