ABSTRACT
The Manchu princelings, aristocrats and northern Chinese conservatives composed the majority at the Court center. But neither the Empress Dowager nor any leading members of the conservative campaign had seen the Boxers in action. Rong had detected the danger of the Boxer movement in Shandong. An open confrontation over the Boxer issue was out of the question, because Rong, too, had a morbid interest in seeing what effect the Boxers could have on the foreigner's behavior. From Zhili and northern Shandong, the Boxer movement also spread quickly into Manchuria. By February 1900, the Boxer rituals began to appear in various parts of Manchuria. The news of the killing of Colonel Yang had spread all over Zhili and Shandong. Hence, it is not surprising that the lack of understanding between the two sides, not so much through their words but in their assumptions, would continue to lead the events toward a dangerous and ignominious end for days to come.
