ABSTRACT
That rebellion was to be the Boxer uprising. The Chinese had become increasingly resentful of the power and privileges of foreigners in China, their special courts, their extraterritoriality, their trading and railroad rights. In their own nation the Chinese seemed but second-class citizens, meant only to serve the special interests of foreigners; even foreign missionaries were above Chinese law as they subverted local religions and Chinese values. First officially noticed in 1898,2 the rebellion started in Shantung Province and soon spread to the neighboring province of Chihli. It was a reaction to German railroad rights, special privileges, and punitive expeditions. While German railroad building was threatening to put boatmen out of work, German missionaries were intervening with Chinese courts when Chinese Christians were being tried. Of course, the Chinese had had enough of foreigners, and resisted the Germans building their railroad. As was their custom in China, the Germans then launched punitive expeditions, sometimes destroying whole villages. "That was the genesis of the Boxer movement."3
