A Chinese Account of the Boxer Rebellion
[Excerpted from George Lynch, The War of the Civilizations,
Being the Record of a "Foreign Devil's" Experiences with the
Allies in China. London: Longmans, 1900]
"The drill of militia in all districts for local defence has been
introduced into China very long since, but it has not been approved till
last year. In Tsae-Chou-Fu of Shantung very often the inhabitants assembled
together, and formed bands for evil purposes, which were called the Big
"They thought their bodies were bullet-proved, and no weapons
could wound them. As their societies became greater, they took advantage
of militia drill, saying that they would kill the foreigners, and calling
themselves Yi-He-Tuan, which means righteous and harmonious militia.
"They expressed that they had the power of taking the souls of
spirits into their own bodies when they were boxing, which made the foolish
people sincerely believe their doings, but those who were wise still deemed
it as superstitious.
"Why were the people so anti-foreign? The case was that the Chinese
Christian converts took advantage of the missionaries sheltering them,
in lawsuits before the magistrates concerning property. Thus, when these
people declared that their resolution was to slaughter the Christians,
very many people were glad to join the society.
"The Boxers were gradually spreading to Tientsin, Chi-Chou, Chuo-Chow,
and Pao-Ting-Fu and some other districts. Those Boxers who belonged to
the Kan (a word for the north direction) group had red cloth on the heads,
around the waist and legs; while those who belonged to the Chien (a word
for the northwest direction) used yellow cloth instead of red. Their weapons
were only spears and swords, which were not sharp.
"It was rumored that they were so easily fed that one pint of
rice would be sufficient for several hundred persons, and that they could
pass the seas and oceans by means of using pieces of cloth instead of ships.
In Tientsin there were societies of red lanterns, which consisted of young
girls who could walk in the air if they held a handkerchief in one hand
and a red lantern in the other, which could help the Boxers to burn the
"Most of the people did not believe this, and considered it superstitious
conduct, as others could not see them when they were walking in the air.
Till then, none of the Pekinese practised boxing. Shortly afterward a merchant
of the Chinese city, a native of Chi-Chou, came back from home and learnt
how to box. The young men, or rather boys, knowing him, asked him to teach
them to box for playing purposes.
"In Chuo-Chow, Chi-Chou, and some other districts round Peking
the Boxers prepared altars, which were composed of matsheds, in which they
placed tablets with names of spirits written on. In each shed, or altar,
there was a certain number of men, and each man got a sword or a spear.
Before boxing, the men first knelt down in the yard toward the southeast,
burnt a 'piao' (which was composed of three sheets of yellow paper) incense,
and knocked their heads.
"After doing so, they again all kneeled down before the tablets,
and each made, on purpose as I supposed, a strong breath with a great noise;
after one or two minutes all stood up and began to box. Before finishing
the boxing, every man had to expose his back for several cuts given by
another man with the blade of a sabre.
"The Empress-Dowager knew that it would be harmful, and wanted
to suppress them, but did not like to kill all of them, as there were among
them good people, who had no real intentions of attacking foreigners, and
who were simply induced to do so owing to their want of wisdom, so she
sent Kang-Yi and Chao-Shu-Chiao, the leaders, and advised the accomplices
to stop boxing.
"During these days the Dowager was living in the Imperial Garden,
and was amusing herself as well as possible.
"Since then the Boxers gave more trouble. One of my friends told
me that he saw a few Boxers who were admitted to the city, and destroyed
two people near the Imperial River bridge. A rumor said that some old women
were sent out by th