BOXER REBELLION
This year marks the 120th anniversary of the Boxer Rebellion. Fiona Keating looks at British involvement in this little-known conflict that changed China forever
A distress call from Sir Claude MacDonald, British minister in China, was sent out in May 1900, seeking assistance for the hundreds of people besieged in Peking (now known as Beijing) by the militia forces of the Yihequan, which translates as Righteous and Harmonious Fists, more commonly referred to as Boxers because of their prowess at hand-to-hand martial arts. The situation “was hourly becoming more serious” and MacDonald requested that “troops should be landed and all arrangements made for an advance to Peking at once.” His plea was answered by Vice-Admiral Edward Seymour: “I am landing at once with all available men.”
