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Read through the information, focusing mainly on the Causes and Effects. (It is not necessary to watch the video on President McKinley)

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Boxer Rebellion: US History for Kids ***

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Find a summary, definition and facts about the Boxer Rebellion for kids. Causes, Effects and Significance of the Boxer Rebellion. Facts about the Boxer Rebellion for kids, children, homework and schools.

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View all 18 of the photos and read the captions.

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By the end of the nineteenth century, many people in Qing China felt extremely upset about the increasing influence of foreign powers and Christian missionaries in the Middle Kingdom. Long the Great Power of Asia, China had suffered humiliation and loss of face when Britain defeated it in the First and Second Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60). To add considerable insult to injury, Britain forced China to accept large shipments of Indian opium, resulting in widespread opium addiction. The country also was divided up into "spheres of influence" by the European powers, and perhaps worst of all, former tributary state Japan prevailed in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95.

These grievances had been festering in China for decades, as the ruling Manchu imperial family weakened. The final blow, which set off the movement that would become known as the Boxer Rebellion, was a deadly two-year drought in Shandong Province. Frustrated and hungry, the young men of Shandong formed the "Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists."

Armed with a few rifles and swords, plus a belief in their own supernatural invulnerability to bullets, the Boxers attacked the home of German missionary George Stenz on November 1, 1897. They killed two priests, although they did not find Stenz himself before local Christian villagers drove them away. Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm responded to this small local incident by sending a naval cruiser squadron to take control of Shandong's Jiaozhou Bay.

Tientsin Family Eats in the Ruins of their Home

The Chinese defenders fought ferociously at Tientsin until the night of July 13th or early morning of the 14th. Then, for reasons unknown, the imperial army melted away, sneaking out of the city gates under cover of darkness, leaving the Boxers and the civilian population of Tientsin at the mercy of the foreigners.

Atrocities were common, particularly from the Russian and German troops, including rape, looting, and murder. The foreign troops from the other six countries behaved somewhat better, but all were merciless when it came to suspected Boxers. Hundreds were rounded up and summarily executed.

Even those civilians who escaped direct oppression by the foreign troops had trouble following the battle. The family shown here has lost their roof, and much of their home is heavily damaged.

The city generally was badly damaged by naval shelling. On July 13, at 5:30 am, the British naval artillery sent a shell into the walls of Tientsin that hit a powder magazine. The entire store of gunpowder blew up, leaving a gap in the city wall and knocking people off their feet as far as 500 yards away.

Foreign Troops Take Part in Executions

Although some of the executions after the Boxer Rebellion followed trials, many were summary. There is no record of an accused Boxer being acquitted of all charges, in any case.

The Japanese soldiers, shown here, became well-known among the Eight Nations troops for their skill at chopping off alleged Boxers' heads. Although this was a modern conscript army, not a collection of samurai, the Japanese contingent still likely had been trained more heavily in use of the sword than their European and American counterparts.

The American General Adna Chaffee said, "It is safe to say that where one real Boxer has been killed... fifty harmless coolies or laborers on the farms, including not a few women and children, have been slain."

Return to an Uneasy Stability

Surviving members of the American legation staff gather for a photograph after the end of the Boxer Rebellion. Although you might suspect that an outburst of fury like the rebellion would prompt foreign powers to rethink their policies and approach to a nation like China, in fact, it did not have that effect. If anything, economic imperialism over China strengthened, and an increasing number of Christian missionaries poured into the Chinese countryside to continue the work of the "Martyrs of 1900."

The Qing Dynasty would hold on to power for another decade, before falling to a nationalist movement. Empress Cixi herself died in 1908; her final appointee, the child emperor Puyi, would be China's Last Emperor.

Clements, Paul H. The Boxer Rebellion: A Political and Diplomatic Review, New York: Columbia University Press, 1915.

Esherick, Joseph. The Origins of the Boxer Uprising, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Preston, Diana. The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic Story of China's War on Foreigners that Shook the World in the Summer of 1900, New York: Berkley Books, 2001.

Thompson, Larry C. William Scott Ament the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris and the "Ideal Missionary", Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009.

Zheng Yangwen. "Hunan: Laboratory of Reform and Revolution: Hunanese in the Making of Modern China," Modern Asian Studies, 42:6 (2008), pp. 1113-1136.

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By the end of the nineteenth century, many people in Qing China felt extremely upset about the increasing influence of foreign powers and Christian missionaries in the Middle Kingdom. Long the Great Power of Asia, China had suffered humiliation and loss of face when Britain defeated it in the First and Second Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60).

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Read the background.

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Boxer Rebellion | Significance, Combatants, & Facts

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Boxer Rebellion: Boxer Rebellion, officially supported peasant uprising (1900) that attempted to drive all foreigners from China.