Editing Boxer Rebellion (section)

=== Origin of the Boxers ===
[[File:Boxer Rebellion.png|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Movement of Boxers and Alliance forces during the rebellion]]
The [[Righteous and Harmonious Fists]] arose in the inland sections of the northern coastal province of [[Shandong]],{{sfnp|Hammond|2023|p=131}} a region which had long been plagued by social unrest, religious sects, and martial societies. American Christian missionaries were probably the first people who referred to the well-trained, athletic young men as the "Boxers", because of the martial arts which they practised and the weapons training which they underwent. Their primary practice was a type of [[Chinese spirit possession|spiritual possession]] which involved the whirling of swords, violent prostrations, and incantations to deities.{{sfnp|Thompson|2009|p=7}}

The opportunities to fight against Western encroachment were especially attractive to unemployed village men, many of whom were teenagers.{{sfnp|Cohen|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jVESdBSMasMC&pg=PA114 114]}} The tradition of possession and invulnerability went back several hundred years but took on special meaning against the powerful new weapons of the West.{{sfnp|Esherick|1987|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jVESdBSMasMC&pg=PA54 xii, 54–59, 96, ff.]}} The Boxers, armed with rifles and swords, claimed supernatural invulnerability against cannons, rifle shots, and knife attacks. The Boxer groups popularly claimed that millions of soldiers would descend out of heaven to assist them in purifying China of foreign oppression.{{sfnp|Xiang|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lAxresT12ogC&pg=PA114 114]}} Members demonstrated their claimed invulnerability to new initiates by firing guns loaded with blank rounds at one another.<ref>{{cite web |title=Weird War: Bullet-Proof Boxers and the Cosmopolitan Cannon |url=https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/osprey-blog/2008/weird-war-bullet-proof-boxers-and-the-cosmopolitan-cannon/ |work=Osprey Blog |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]] |access-date=30 March 2025 |date=13 June 2008 |quote=The Boxers claimed that once someone was initiated into the society they would be immune from bullets, and they proved this by firing guns loaded with blanks at their own members. Unfortunately, as the violence escalated and soldiers from the western powers got involved, this bullet immunity was quickly disproved.}}</ref>

In 1895, despite ambivalence toward their heterodox practices, [[Yuxian (Qing dynasty)|Yuxian]], a Manchu who was the then prefect of [[Cao Prefecture]] and would later become provincial governor, cooperated with the [[Big Swords Society]], whose original purpose was to fight bandits.<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20">{{harvp|Cohen|1997|pp=[https://archive.org/details/historyinthreeke00paul/page/19/mode/1up 19–20]}}</ref> The German Catholic missionaries of the [[Society of the Divine Word]] had built up their presence in the area, partially by taking in a significant portion of converts who were "in need of protection from the law".<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20" /> On one occasion in 1895, a large bandit gang defeated by the Big Swords Society claimed to be Catholics to avoid prosecution. "The line between Christians and bandits became increasingly indistinct", remarks historian [[Paul Cohen (historian)|Paul Cohen]].<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20" />

Some missionaries such as [[Georg Maria Stenz]] also used their privileges to intervene in lawsuits. The Big Swords responded by attacking Catholic properties and burning them.<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20" /> As a result of diplomatic pressure in the capital, Yuxian executed several Big Sword leaders but did not punish anyone else. More martial secret societies started emerging after this.<ref name="Cohen1997 pp. 19–20" />

The early years saw a variety of village activities, not a broad movement with a united purpose. Martial folk-religious societies such as the [[Baguadao]] ('Eight Trigrams') prepared the way for the Boxers. Like the Red Boxing school or the [[Plum Flower tradition]], the Boxers of Shandong were more concerned with traditional social and moral values, such as filial piety, than with foreign influences. One leader, Zhu Hongdeng (Red Lantern Zhu), started as a wandering healer, specialising in skin ulcers, and gained wide respect by refusing payment for his treatments.{{sfnp|Cohen|1997|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ky4_whmgIZcC&pg=PA30 27–30]}} Zhu claimed descent from [[Ming dynasty]] emperors, since his surname was the surname of the Ming imperial family. He announced that his goal was to "Revive the Qing and destroy the foreigners" ({{lang|zh|扶清滅洋}} {{Transliteration|zh|fu Qing mie yang}}).{{sfnp|Xiang|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lAxresT12ogC&pg=PA115 115]}}

The enemy was seen as foreign influence. They decided the "primary devils" were the Christian missionaries while the "secondary devils" were the Chinese converts to Christianity, which both had either to repent, be driven out or killed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Purcell |first=Victor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2MeUoD9G9xAC&pg=PA125 |title=The Boxer Uprising: A Background Study |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-14812-2 |page=125}}</ref>{{sfnp|Preston|2000|p=[https://archive.org/details/boxerrebelliondr00dian/page/25 25]}}