Boxers

a secret political society of China. Of course this is not the Chinese name. The object of the organization is to drive out all foreigners, especially Europeans. It is opposed to missionaries, railroads, in short, all changes in the ancient order of society. In one respect the Boxer movement may be regarded a patriotic one. The most serious uprising took place in 1900, when an insurrection rendered the Chinese government apparently powerless. Native Christians and European missionaries were massacred, railroads were torn up, the German minister and the head of the Japanese legation were murdered in the streets of Pekin. The entire diplomatic corps was shut up in the British embassy and cut off from the rest of the world. Ministers and their families were in immediate danger of extermination,--a position from which they were rescued by a relief force of 12,000 men, made up of French, German, Russian, Japanese, and American troops. On the approach of this army the government officials fled with the Boxers, showing their sympathy with the uprising. The affront to international courtesy was, to say the least, a serious one. China was compelled to pay an indemnity of $337,500,000. The amount paid the United States proved excessive. Our government returned a portion to China. See Pekin; China