Emsavadeg ar Vokserien : diforc'h etre ar stummoù

Lod eus Sinaiz a oa fuloret gant ar fed ma ne The exemption from many Chinese laws of missionaries further alienated some Chinese. [[Marshall Broomhall]] pointed to the policy pursued by Catholic missionaries. E 1899, gant skoazell ur ministr gall e Beijing, e oa roet dezhe ur skrid-embann digant Gouarnamant Sina granting official rank to each order in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. The Catholics, by means of this official status, were able to more powerfully support their people and oppose [[Mandarin (bureaucrat)|Mandarins]].<ref>Broomhall (1901), 7.</ref> .

Now with a majority of conservative reactionaries in the Imperial Court, the Empress Dowager issued edicts in defence of the Boxers, drawing heated complaints from foreign diplomats in January, 1900. In June 1900 the Boxers, now joined by elements of the Imperial army, attacked foreign compounds in the cities of [[Tianjin]] and [[Peking]]. The [[legation]]s of the [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Italy]], [[Austria-Hungary]], [[Spain]], [[Belgium]], the [[Netherlands]], the [[United States]], [[Russia]] and [[Japan]] were all located on the [[Beijing Legation Quarter|Legation Quarter]] close to the [[Forbidden City]] in Peking. The legations were hurriedly linked into a fortified compound that became a refuge for foreign citizens in Peking. The Spanish and Belgian legations were a few streets away, and their staff were able to arrive safely at the compound. The German legation on the other side of the city was stormed before the staff could escape. When the Envoy for the German Empire, [[Klemens von Ketteler|Klemens Freiherr von Ketteler]], was murdered on 20 June by a Manchu banner man, the foreign powers demanded redress. On 21 June [[Empress Dowager Cixi|Cixi]] declared war against all Western powers, but regional governors refused to cooperate. Shanghai's Chinese elite supported the provincial governors of southeastern China in resisting the imperial declaration of war.<ref>Chen (1994).</ref>.

The fortified legation compound in Peking remained under siege from Boxer forces from 20 June to 14 August. Under the command of the British minister to China, [[Claude Maxwell MacDonald]], the legation staff and security personnel defended the compound with one old muzzle-loaded cannon; it was nicknamed the "International Gun" because the barrel was British, the carriage was Italian, the shells were Russian, and the crew were from the United States.

Foreign media described the fighting going on in Peking as well as the alleged torture and murder of captured foreigners. Whilst it is true that thousands of Chinese Christians were massacred in north China, many horrible stories that appeared in world newspapers were based on a deliberate fraud<ref> Preston (2000) Page 173-4.</ref>. Nonetheless a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment arose in Europe, the United States and Japan. <ref>Elliott (1996)</ref>.

As the situation worsened, a second International force of 2,000 marines under the command of the British Vice Admiral [[Edward Hobart Seymour|Edward Seymour]], the largest contingent being British, was dispatched from [[Takou]] to Beijing on 10 June. The troops were transported by train from Takou to [[Tianjin]] (Tien-Tsin) with the agreement of the Chinese government, but the railway between Tianjin and Beijing had been severed. Seymour however resolved to move forward and repair the rail or such as the train, or progress on foot as necessary, keeping in mind that the distance between Tianjin and Beijing was only 120 kilometers.

After Tianjin however, the convoy was surrounded, the railway behind and in front of them was destroyed, and they were attacked from all parts by Chinese irregulars and even Chinese governmental troops. News arrived on 18 June regarding attacks on foreign legations. Seymour decided to continue advancing, this time along the [[Pei-Ho]] river, towards [[Tong-Tcheou]], 25 kilometers from Beijing. By the 19th, they had to abandon their efforts due to progressively stiffening resistance, and started to retreat southward along the river with over two hundred wounded. Commandeering four civilian Chinese [[Junk (ship)|junk]]s along the river, they loaded all their wounded and remaining supplies onto them and pulled them along with ropes from the riverbanks. By this point, they were very low on food, ammunition and medical supplies. Luckily, they then happened upon [[The Great Hsi-Ku Arsenal]], a hidden Qing munitions cache that the western powers had no knowledge of until then. They immediately captured and occupied it, discovering not only German Krupp made field guns, but rifles with millions of rounds in ammunition, along with millions of pounds of rice. Further, medical supplies were ample too. There they dug in and awaited rescue. A Chinese servant was able to infiltrate through the boxer and Qing lines, informing the western powers of their predicament. Surrounded and attacked nearly around the clock by Qing troops and boxers, they were at the point of being overrun. On 25 June however a [[regiment]] composed of 1800 men, (900 Russian troops from [[Lüshunkou|Port-Arthur]], 500 British seamen, with an ad hoc mix of other assorted western troops) finally arrived. Spiking the mounted field guns and setting fire to any munitions that they could not take (an estimate £3 million worth), they departed the Hsi-Ku Arsenal in the early morning of 26 June, with the loss of 62 killed and 228 wounded.<ref>Account of the Seymour column in "The Boxer Rebellion", pgs 100-104, Diane Preston</ref>.

With a difficult military situation in Tianjin, and a total breakdown of communications between Tianjin and Beijing, the allied nations took steps to reinforce their military presence significantly. On 17 June, they took the [[Taku Forts]] commanding the approaches to Tianjin, and from there brought increasing numbers of troops on shore.

The international force, with British [[Lieutenant-General]] [[Alfred Gaselee]] acting as the commanding officer, called the [[Eight-Nation Alliance]], eventually numbered 54,000, with the main contingent being composed of Japanese soldiers: Japanese (20,840), Russian (13,150), British (12,020), French (3,520), U.S.(3,420), German (900), Italian (80), [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] (75), and anti-Boxer Chinese troops.<ref>[http://www.russojapanesewar.com/boxers.html Russojapanesewarweb]</ref>. The international force finally captured Tianjin on 14 July under the command of the Japanese colonel [[Kuriya]], after one day of fighting.

:{{cquote|<I>''Make the name German remembered in China for a thousand years so that no Chinaman will ever again dare to even squint at a German.<ref>Eugene, Melvin. Sonnenburg, Penny M. [2003] (2003). Digitized 2006. Colonialism: An International, Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia. ISBN 1-57607-335-1</ref>.}}

China was fined [[war reparations]] of 450,000,000 [[tael]] of fine silver (around 67.5 million [[Pound (currency)|pounds]]) for the loss that it caused. The reparation would be paid within 39 years, and would be 982,238,150 taels with interests (4% per year) included. To help meet the payment, it was agreed to increase the existing tariff from an actual 3.18% to 5%, and to tax hitherto duty-free merchandise. The sum of reparation was estimated by the Chinese population (roughly 450 million in 1900), to let each Chinese pay one tael. Chinese custom income and salt tax were enlisted as guarantee of the reparation. Russia got 30% of the reparation, Germany 20%, France 15.75%, Britain 11.25%, Japan 7.7% and the US share was 7%.<ref>Hsu, 481</ref>.

The [[China Inland Mission]] lost more members than any other missionary agency: 58 adults and 21 children were killed. However, in 1901, when the allied nations were demanding compensation from the Chinese government, [[Hudson Taylor]] refused to accept payment for loss of property or life in order to demonstrate the meekness of Christ to the Chinese.<ref>Broomhall (1901), several pages</ref>.

During the incident, 48 [[Catholic]] missionaries and 18,000 Chinese Catholics were murdered; 222 Chinese [[Eastern Orthodox]] Christians were also murdered, along with 182 [[Protestant]] missionaries and 500 Chinese Protestants known as the [[China Martyrs of 1900]].

* The 1963 film ''[[55 Days at Peking]]'' was a dramatization of the Boxer rebellion. Shot in [[Spain]], it needed thousands of extras, and the company sent scouts throughout Spain to hire as many as they could find. <ref name="days">{{imdb title|id=0056800|title=55 Days at Peking}}</ref>