The Boxer Rebellion, now called by most historians The Boxer Uprising, or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement (simplified Chinese: 义和团运动; traditional Chinese: 義和團運動; pinyin: Yìhétuán Yùndòng) in Chinese, was an anti-imperialism, anti-Christian movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" (Yihe tuan), or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" (known as "Boxers" in English), in China between 1898 and 1901. The uprising took place in response to imperialist expansion, growth of cosmopolitan influences and missionary evangelism. In 1898 local organizations emerged in Shandong as the result of the imperialist expansion, as well as other internal issues such as the state fiscal crisis and natural disasters. Initially they were suppressed by the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty of China. Later, the Qing Dynasty attempted to expel Western influence from China. Under the slogan "Support the Qing, destroy the foreign" (Chinese: 扶清灭洋; pinyin: fú qīng miè yáng), Boxers across North China attacked mission compounds.
In June 1900 Boxer fighters, lightly armed or unarmed, gathered in Beijing to besiege the foreign embassies. On June 21 the conservative faction of the Imperial Court induced the Empress Dowager, who ruled in the emperor’s name, to declare war on the foreign powers that had diplomatic representation in Beijing. Diplomats, foreign civilians, soldiers and some Chinese Christians retreated to the Legation Quarter where they held out for 55 days until the Eight-Nation Alliance brought 20,000 troops to their rescue.
The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists (simplified Chinese: 义和团; traditional Chinese: 義和團; pinyin: Yìhétuán), known by foreigners as the Boxers, was a secret society founded in Shandong, located in the North province of China. Westerners came to call well-trained, athletic young men "Boxers" due to the martial arts and calisthenics they practiced. Despite the obvious differences between Wushu and Western pugilistic boxing, the training for unarmed combat took on the same name to the Europeans.
The Boxers believed that they could, through training, diet, martial arts and prayer, perform extraordinary feats, such as flight, and could become immune to swords and bullets. Further, they popularly claimed that millions of spirit soldiers would descend from the heavens and assist them in purifying China from foreign influences. Boxers recruited local farmers and other workers made desperate by disastrous floods, and focused blame on both Christian missionaries and Chinese Christians. Some Chinese Christians were recent converts and some had been born into the faith, but missionaries secured special protection for them using the shelter of extraterritoriality. Aggression toward missionaries and Christians gained the attention of foreign (mainly European) governments.
After the Hundred Days Reform failed, the conservative Empress Dowager Cixi seized power and put the reformist Guangxu Emperor into house arrest. Western countries were sympathetic to the imprisoned emperor, and opposed Cixi's plan to replace the Guangxu emperor. Empress Dowager Cixi decided to use Boxers to expel Western influences from China; meanwhile, the Boxers would be weakened by Western forces. Then the Boxer slogan became "support the Qing, destroy the Foreign." (扶清灭洋) 
One of the first signs of unrest appeared in a small village in Shandong province, where there had been a long dispute over the property rights of a temple between locals and the Roman Catholic authorities. The Catholics claimed that the temple was originally a church abandoned after the Kangxi Emperor banned Christianity in China in 1715. The local court ruled in favor of the church which angered villagers who claimed the temple for rituals. After the local authorities turned over the temple to the Catholics, the villagers (led by the Boxers) attacked the church building.
The exemption of missionaries from many laws further alienated local Chinese. In 1899, with the help of the French Minister in Peking, the missionaries obtained an edict granting 