BOX-ELDER 



873 



BOXING 



ignation of Sir Richard McBride, Bowser was 

 appointed premier, but his ministry lasted less 

 than a year, for in the general elections of 

 September, 1916, the Conservatives were de- 

 feated. Bowser was succeeded as premier by 

 H. C. Brewster, the Liberal leader. 



BOX-ELDER. See subhead, under ELDER. 



BOXER REBELLION. The defeat of China 

 by Japan in the war of 1894 to 1895 was the 

 signal for aggressive action in China by a 

 number of the European powers. By one 

 means or another Great Britain, Russia, Ger- 

 many and France obtained "concessions" of 

 territory or commercial privileges from China. 

 By 1900 it was clear that continued aggression 

 by the foreigners would mean the division of 

 China into spheres in which European influ- 

 ence would predominate, resulting in the 

 practical loss of its independence. 



The most obvious method of Chinese resist- 

 ance was to drive out the foreigners. Anti- 

 foreign demonstrations and attacks on foreign- 

 ers became common in many parts of China, 

 and early in 1900 foreigners began to hear of 

 an organization called Boxers. The Chinese 

 name really means "The Fist of Righteous 

 Harmony," which was incorrectly translated 

 Boxers. 



The Boxers, though originally a patriotic 

 society much like a volunteer American mili- 

 tia, came under the control of a group of 

 fanatics whose cry was "Exterminate the for- 

 eigners." Their attacks on foreign residents 

 became bolder, until Peking itself was in the 

 hands of a mob which threatened the foreign 

 legations. On June 10, 1901, a relief force of 

 2,000 marines left the foreign warships at Taku, 

 with Peking as their destination, but it was 

 driven back. 



The situation in Peking was then desperate. 

 The secretary of the Japanese legation and the 

 German ambassador were murdered in the 



streets, and there remained little doubt that 

 the Boxers were encouraged by the Chinese 

 government. The foreign diplomats and their 

 families, together with a number of mission- 

 aries and Christian Chinese, took refuge in the 

 British legation. They fortified it as best they 

 could, and here for nearly two months they 

 were besieged, without any communication 

 with the outside world. Meanwhile, Taku had 

 been occupied by the allies, who prepared an 

 army of 18,000 men to march to the relief of 

 the besieged. On August 14, after a ten-days' 

 march, the allied army entered Peking. The 

 empress dowager, the boy emperor and the 

 court fled into the interior. Exactly two 

 weeks later, the allies Japanese, Russians, 

 British, Americans, French and Germans 

 marched through the Forbidden City, in whose 

 sacred royal precincts no foreigner had ever 

 stepped, as a "symbol of the humiliation of 

 China." 



Thus ended the Boxer Rebellion. It cost 

 China and the foreign nations a few lives and 

 much money. China agreed to pay an indem- 

 nity of $330,000,000, to be distributed among 

 - the allies. The United States, a few years 

 later, formally renounced its share in this 

 amount, and returned it. China also agreed 

 not to import arms, ammunition or the mate- 

 rials for making them; it prohibited, under 

 penalty of death, membership of any China- 

 man in anti-foreign organizations of any kind, 

 and it made several concessions in favor of 

 foreign commerce. To prevent a repetition of 

 such danger to the residents of the legations 

 a district in Peking was set aside for foreign- 

 ers. This section is now fortified. The peace 

 agreement also provided that certain points 

 might be occupied by the foreign powers in 

 order to keep open communication between 

 the sea and the legation quarter in Peking. 

 See CHINA, subhead History. 



OXING, called the "manly art of 

 self-defense," is the art of hitting an oppo- 

 nent without getting hit. In popular use the 



term boxing is associated with friendly exhi- 

 bitions of skill rather than with public prize- 

 fights between professionals. Professional box- 



