Term paper on Boxer Rebellion

Boxer Rebellion (1900)

After its defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), China was increasingly unable to resist the demands of European powers and Japan for increased economic rights and privileges in their respective spheres of influence. Angered and humiliated by the intrusion of these foreigners, the Boxers, a secret society (so-called because its symbol was a fist), attacked missionaries and then besieged the foreign legations in Peking . The various imperialist powers, including the United States , sent troops, who successfully defeated the Boxers and lifted the siege. The Chinese government subsequently was forced to pay large indemnities, although the United States remitted most of its share.
Suggestions for Term Papers

1. What accounts for America ‘s growing interest in China during the 1890s?

2. What were the reasons for Secretary of State John Hay’s Open Door policy? How did European powers react to this U.S. position?

3. Compare the importance of commerce and religion in the U.S. involvement with China during the 1890s.

4. What was the role of the U.S. military in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion?

5. What effect did the Boxer Rebellion have on America ‘s future relations with China ?

Suggested Sources : See entry 2 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

The Encyclopedia of Propaganda . Armonk , NY : Sharpe Reference, 1998. 3 vols. Examines in detail the various aspects of propaganda. The Boxer Rebellion is one of over 500 topics treated.

GENERAL SOURCES

Barnett, Suzanne Wilson, and John King Fairbank, eds. Christianity in China : Early Protestant Missionary Writings . Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1985. This anthology of documents runs only through 1890, but the introductions for each section are worthwhile background reading.

Cohen, Warren I. America’s Response to China: A History of Sino-American Relations. 3d ed. New York : Columbia University Press, 1990. Standard survey of U.S.-Chinese relations.

Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century: Vol. 1:1900–1933 . New York : William Morrow, 1997. The first volume of a planned three-volume set covering the entire century, year by year, place by place, and event by event. Contains extensive narrative detail on the Boxer Rebellion.

Hunt, Michael H. The Making of a Special Relationship: The United States and China to 1914 . New York : Columbia University Press, 1983. An able discussion of the evolution of the relationship between the two nations up to World War I, emphasizing the changes wrought by the Boxer Rebellion.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

The Boxers

Brandt, Nat. Massacre in Shansi. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1994. Lively account of a notorious incident of the rebellion.

Esherick, Joseph W. The Origins of the Boxer Uprising. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. Good survey of the Boxer movement and its history.

Keown-Boyd, Henry. The Boxer Rebellion. (1991). Reprint. New York: Dorset, 1995. Good recent account of the rebellion.

Martin, Christopher. The Boxer Rebellion . London : Abelard-Schuman, 1968. Concise and readable narrative of the rebellion; contains illustrations, maps, and portraits.

O’Connor, Richard. The Boxer Rebellion. London: Hale, 1974. Detailed history of the event. Published initially in 1973 under the title, The Spirit Soldiers: A Historical Narrative of the Boxer Rebellion.

Americans in China

Chong, Key Ray. Americans and Chinese Reform and Revolution, 1898–1922: The Role of Private Citizens in Diplomacy. Lanham, MD : University Press of America, 1984. The role of Americans in Chinese domestic affairs, examined by an Asian-born scholar.

Hunter, Jane. The Gospel of Gentility: American Women Missionaries in Turn-of-the-Century China. New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, 1984. An excellent source for the history of American women in Asia.

Neils, Patricia, ed. United States Attitudes and Policies toward China: The Impact of American Missionaries. Armonk, NY: Sharpe, 1990. A collection of essays on missionaries’ role in shaping Americans’ views of China.

Price, Eva Jane. China Journal, 1889–1900: An American Missionary Family during the Boxer Rebellion. New York: Scribner’s, 1989. Collection of letters, journals, and illustrations that provide insight into the nature of the rebellion, as well as the missionary and his family, who were murdered by the Boxers.