Quotations: Foreign imperialism and the Boxers

This page contains a collection of Chinese Revolution quotations about foreign imperialism and the Boxers, made by prominent leaders, figures, observers and historians. These quotations have been selected and compiled by Alpha History authors. If you would like to suggest a quotation for these pages, please contact Alpha History.

“The contraband trade of opium is at this time the greatest barrier to the Gospel in China… The government of a nation not possessing the Bible and unblessed by the light of the Gospel [is] labouring to protect their people from a moral pestilence, which is carrying dismay and poverty and wretchedness through the land.”
Presbyterian Church of England, 1841

“[Christian] priests are for the most part educated to their profession from their childhood. They are emasculated… Those who convert to this religion practice sodomy with the priests without restraint. This is called ‘adding to knowledge’… Every seventh day they perform worship, which they call Mass. When the ceremony is over, all give themselves up to indiscriminate sexual intercourse… Brides are required to spend the first night with her religion teacher… When a father dies his son may marry his mother… From the king down to the people, all [Christians] are subject to the authority of their wives.”
Death Blow to Corrupt Doctrines, an anti-Christian pamphlet, 1870

“When the foreign barbarians preach their religion, they say they are urging men to do good, but in fact they are disrupting our government, creating turmoil in our system, destroying our customs, and deceiving our people – that is to say, they want to turn the people of China into barbarians.”
Liu Dapeng, a teacher from Shanxi province, 1899

“[The Boxers’] gymnastic exercises, from which they derived their name… consisted of bowing low to the ground, striking the forehead onto the earth three times each toward the east and then the south, then throwing themselves of their backs and lying motionless for several minutes, after which they would throw themselves from side to side a number of times, and finally rising, go through a number of posturings, as though warding off blows and making passes at an enemy.”
Dr Robert Coltman, US physician to the Qing royal court, 1900

“Stories of child eating [by foreigners] were current… I observed that when we foreigners entered one of the poorer streets, many of the people picked up their infants and hurried with them into the houses.”
Isabella Bird, English traveller

“No rain comes from Heaven
The earth is parched and dry
And all because the [Christian] churches
Have bottled up the sky.”
Anti-foreign poem, 1900

“When at last all the Foreign Devils
Are expelled to the very last man
The Great Qing, united, together
Will bring peace to this our land.”
Boxer poem, 1900

“You are personally invited to meet on the seventh day of the ninth moon. Elevate the Manchus! Kill the foreigners! Unless this summons is obeyed you will lose your heads.”
Boxer placard, 1900

“Revive the Qing! Destroy the foreigner!”
Boxer slogan, 1899-1901

“Perhaps their magic is not to be relied upon – but can we not rely on the hearts and minds of the people? Today China is extremely weak. We have only the people’s hearts and minds to depend upon. If we cast them aside and lose the people’s hearts, what can we use to sustain the country?”
Dowager Empress Cixi on foreign imperialists in China

“My blood runs cold at the thoughts of events to come. Under any enlightened sovereign these Boxers – with their ridiculous claims to supernatural powers – would have assuredly been condemned to death long ago… Your Majesties are still in the hands of traitors, regarding these Boxers as your dutiful subjects.”
Li Hongzhang, Qing politician and advisor

“Issue a decree to all provincial chiefs telling them they are to encourage the gentry and the people… to burn foreign churches, loot foreign goods, kill foreign merchants and sink foreign ships.”
Prince Chun’s advice to Dowager Empress Cixi, 1900

“Heaven sees as the people see; Heaven hears as the people hear… China is weak, the only thing we can depend upon is the hearts of the people.”
Dowager Empress Cixi during the Boxer Rebellion

“Christians and Boxers are both children of the state, and the Court cares equally for both of them.”
Dowager Empress Cixi, June 1900

“The foreigners are like fish in the stew pan. For 40 years I have eaten bitterness because of them.”
Dowager Empress Cixi, 1900

“As a fighting force [the Boxers] are absolutely useless, but their claims to supernatural arts and magic might possibly be valuable for the purpose of disheartening the enemy… But it would be wrong, not to say fatal, for us to attach any real belief to their ridiculous claims… The Boxers are not trained troops but they are ready to fight and to face death. It is indeed a gratifying surprise to see any of our people display courage, and to witness their enthusiasm for settling old scores against the foreigner.”
Ronglu, Qing general, 1900

“Now they [foreign powers] have started the aggression and the extinction of our nation is imminent. If we just fold our arms and yield to them, I would have no face to see our ancestors after death. If we must perish, why not fight to the death?”
Dowager Empress Cixi during the Boxer Rebellion

“I have heard nothing from my government on the subject… It seems to me to be a local disturbance which does not involve any broad international question. I know nothing of what the disturbance is. I know nothing of what the Boxers are.”
Wu Tingfang, China’s ambassador to the United States, May 1900

“Ronglu has the guns my army needs. With their aid not a stone would be left standing in the whole of the Legation Quarter.”
Dong Fuxiang, Qing general who sided with the Boxers

“At sundown there was a huge commotion along with the sounds of shrieking and wailing. It was discovered that the Boxers had burned several dozen Christian families to death. A workman who went to have a look reported that the men of the families had fled, leaving only the women, who were incinerated in their homes. When one young woman escaped from the flames, her belly was cut open with a sword by the Boxers. One could hear the sound of skin separating from bones. Several Boxers grabbed the woman by the thighs and arms and threw her back into the flames. The savagery was unspeakable.”
Ai Sheng, eyewitness to the Boxer Uprising, 1900

“If the Chinks can be held back tonight, we can dig in so they’ll never break through.”
Captain Hall, US officer in the Peking legation, July 1900

“After killing their wives and children to prevent them falling into the clutches of the frenzied Chinese, the foreigners in Peking were mowed down. The savages slew [them] like beasts. Not one of the 1,800 white men, women and children was left alive in Peking… The last white died fighting and the blood-maddened Mongolians [Boxers] had to wreak their hellish ingenuity on corpses.”
New York Evening Journal, July 1900

“The Chinese have dared to overturn a thousand year old international law and to make a mockery of the sanctity of the diplomat and the right of hospitality… When you come upon the enemy, smite him. Pardon will not be given. Prisoners will not be taken. Whoever falls into your hands is forfeit… Make the name German remembered in China for a thousand years so that no Chinaman will ever again dare to even squint at a German.”
German ruler Wilhelm II, addressing troops embarking for China, 1900

“Those who remained [in Beijing] have been treated as if they were all Boxers or spies, and have been freely looted, their houses burned and themselves driven out to any fate that might await them.”
An American missionary on the Eight Nations occupation of Beijing, 1900

“China never wanted foreigners any more than foreigners wanted Chinamen. On this question, I am with the Boxers every time. The Boxer is a patriot. He loves his country better than he does the countries of other people.”
Mark Twain, US writer, 1900

“You should take an early opportunity of letting the Chinese government know that in the event of their… unconditionally ranging themselves on the side of the Allies, His Majesty’s government has every intention of subsequently meeting China’s reasonable requests in a generous spirit…”
British Foreign Office telegram, 1917

“We have heard the public pronouncements of the [Western] powers, that after the war, justice and equality will rule among the nations. We believe in them and have great hopes of them. We expect that in carrying them out in practice in China, one of the first things that will be done will be a reasonable and equitable revision of our treaties [to] favour the independent development of China.”
Wu Tingfang, Chinese diplomat, 1918


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