The Boxer Rebellion and

The Christian Missionaries

By Aaron Scott

Dr. Rohrer
History of Christianity
April 28, 2015
The Chinese Boxer Rebellion tends to conjure up ideas of a negative Christian
missionary influence on the Chinese people during the beginning of the 20 th century. Many
perceptions of what caused the violence against missionaries during the rebellion seem to
stem from not only acts of violence towards Christians, but also accounts of the unrest in
China from western journalists. However, when one puts together the whole picture
including the atmosphere of the Chinese political situation, encroaching imperial
influence, and an impending rebellion, the violence against missionaries becomes less
religiously driven and more of an act of cultural violence brought on by growing unrest in
China towards the end of a dynasty.
Christianity in China can be traced back as far as the 7 th century, but American
mission work increased greatly during the early 1800s. Robert Morrison arrived in 1807 and

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produced a Chinese translation of the Bible.1 This established a jumping off point for mission
work to expand considerably after the First Opium War of 1842. During this time western
powers missionaries and their schools would play a major role in the general
westernization of China during the turn of the century,2 but not without resistance and
conflict.
It is important to note that leading up to the violence of the Boxer Rebellion missionaries not
only distributed Christian literature and Bibles, the Protestant missionary movement in China
also printed and taught works of history and science. Missionaries worked amongst the
Chinese, they established and developed schools, and introduced medical techniques from
the west.3 In setting the stage in China during this time it is important to note that, based on
accounts, missionaries lived as if their intent was to live amongst the Chinese, not drastically
change the whole of Chinese culture or identity.
For a look into the life of a missionary in the Chinese capital city, Isaac Taylor Headland
provides a very clear and compelling perspective. Reverend Isaac Taylor Headland became a
missionary to China during the last part of the nineteenth century. He graduated from Boston
University School of Theology in 1890 and was ordained as a Methodist-Episcopal minister
and later that year he and his wife were called to become missionaries to China. Headland
was chosen to go as a teacher, but his appointing Bishop decided to ordain him, giving him

1 Daniel H. Bays 2012. A New History of Christianity in China. Chichester, West

Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
2 Bays. Christianity in China.
3 Jonathan D. Spence 1990. The Search for Modern China. W.W. Norton and
Company, New York.

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the ability to preach as well.4 In his writings on the life of Headland, Roger Applegate noted
that he was successful at preaching as well as teaching at the university, saying Upon his
arrival, Rev. Headland was to take a position as the professor of science at Peking University,
but as he later described it, he taught anything from astronomy to arithmetic and any other
subject for which they didn't have a teacher, and all teaching was done in the Chinese
language.5
The community established by missionaries through Christianity and through larger numbers
by means of education represented a notable and growing part of Chinese society. This
growing movement also signaled a growing westernization of China at a time when
western powers such as Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Japan were securing spheres of
influence in China.6
There was a tight knit community amongst missionaries, converts and students in the capital
city as well as a close community of missionaries that stayed in contact with one another
even with different synods and affiliations. Peking University students also became close to
many within the missionary community due to ties with Headland and other missionary
teachers within the Imperial University.7 The missionary presence within the capital city as
4 Roger Applegate. Rev. Isaac Taylor Headland: Missionary to China. Milestones Vol
34 No. 3.
http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/Churches/RevHeadland
toChina/RevHeadlandMissarytoChina.html.
5 Applegate. Isaac Taylor Headland.
6 Joseph Esherick 1987. The Origins of the Boxer Uprising. University of California
Press.
7 Isaac Taylor Headland 1902. Chinese Heroes; being a record of persecutions
endured by native Christians in the Boxer uprising. New York : Eaton & Mains;
Cincinnati, Jennings & Pye.

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well as its proximity and influence with the university was also obvious from a geographical
standpoint as described by Applegate in his short biography on Headlands missionary work.
The Methodist mission compound was located just inside of the Tartar city gates on
what was aptly named Filial Piety Lane. The property, enclosed by a brick wall,
covered little more than two acres, and was once the residence of a chancellor of the
empire, which formerly housed his family of twenty-seven wives and a large group of
servants. The residences of the missionaries stretched in a west to east direction, with
the Headland residence near the end by the Asbury Church, considered by some as the
best Protestant church building in China. Here the grounds of the Peking University
began, and stretched to the eastward, occupying several acres including a dormitory,
classrooms as well as some small buildings in which printing and carpenter work
were taught, and finally to the west of this compound was the hospital. 8
The missionary presence was well know and represented a growing western influence
in the capital city that was being felt throughout all of China. This increasing westernization
upset many citizens and threatened the Chinese order already in turmoil from civil conflict
and growing unrest. The national crisis was widely seen as being caused by foreign
aggression. Western powers had defeated China in several wars and imposed unequal treaties
under which foreigners and foreign companies in China were given special privileges, far

8 Roger Applegate. Rev. Isaac Taylor Headland: Missionary to China. Milestones Vol
34 No. 3.
http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/Churches/RevHeadland
toChina/RevHeadlandMissarytoChina.html.

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reaching territorial rights, and immunities from Chinese law, causing resentment and
prejudice among the Chinese.9
From accounts recalling the strong xenophobia towards foreigners and especially
Christian missionaries, one would assume that the missionaries found little success in
spreading any western knowledge and accomplished little in benefiting the Chinese people,
but many westerners found success in influencing the Emperor Kuang Hsu. The young
emperor became very interested in western inventions such as the phonograph, telephone and
gramophone. Missionaries also found success in piquing his interests from a reading
perspective. English reading and learning opened up new worlds and concepts for him to
explore. He found great enjoyment in western reading and influenced many around him to
read western works as well. Women around the Empress Dowager presented her with a New
Testament bound in silver and incased in a silver box, raising the young Emperors interest in
studying the Gospel of Luke. But this is not where his western reading stopped; he began
reading more translated western books and gained more influence of English concepts.
Written in the Chinese Recorder in 1900 is a list of 27 reform edicts issued by the Emperor
that were driven by western ideals. 10 Although few of them had much support or the means
to succeed at the time, his attempt to benefit the Chinese people through western edicts in
such a sweeping fashion is remarkable for the time and atmosphere building during the turn
of the century.

9 Paul A. Cohen 1997. History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and
Myth. Columbia University Press.
10 Isaac Taylor Headland 1900. The Chinese Recorder. The Reform Movement in
China. Shanghai. T. Chu.

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The very presence of western influence creeping into the ruling class was enough to
arouse suspicion and anger against many Chinese who were already watching the dynasty
fall apart under civil unrest and the losses of the Opium Wars. During this time a drought
also devastated crop production and made farming very difficult. While debilitating factors
affected the countries, radical rebels formed violent and powerful forces that sought to bring
more national pride and protection of pure Chinese culture. 11
The Righteous and Harmonious Fists arose and stood in opposition of the influence of
western powers. They practiced a form of spirit possession rituals and believed that through
training, martial arts and prayer they could perform extraordinary feats, such as flight and
claimed that millions of spirit soldiers would descend from the heavens and assist them in
purifying China of foreign oppression.12 The Boxers, through their alleged powers, claimed
supernatural invulnerability towards blows of cannon, rifle shots and knife attacks. As
extreme as the Boxers (named through missionaries based on the martial arts they practiced)
seemed they resonated with many Chinese and those not influenced by the Boxers could not
deny their power and willingness to destroy and kill those in opposition of their beliefs.
These mounting issues brought the Empress Dowager to a difficult political decision
regarding her support. While the dynasty and her control seemed to dwindle, she would most
certainly lose control and power by letting foreign powers dictate the fate of China. And now
with the Boxers exhibiting force in greater numbers and without restraint or fear of
international intervention, war involving the rebels was inevitable. The Empress Dowager
11 Larry Clinton Thompson 2009. William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion:
Heroism, Hubris and the "Ideal Missionary McFarland and Company.
12 Lanxin Xiang 2003. The Origins of the Boxer War: A Multinational Study. St.
Edmundsbury Press Ltd.

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made the move to stand with the popular up and coming Chinese rebels and engage in
discourse with western allied forces. From the perspective of Christian missionaries, the
situation looked grim and the news of martyrs at the hands of the Boxer rebels put the safety
of those in the capital in question. But according to missionary perspectives it seemed that
the Empress Dowager fueled anti-Christian flames, so to speak. 13
The Christian missionaries to this point had been generally helpful as well as relatively
assimilated, and through education within Imperial Universities missionaries had looked to
better life for the Chinese on a personal and political level as well as through science,
industry and medicine. One has to wonder through a government perspective and from the
eyes of Chinese leadership what is it about Christian missionaries that makes them deserving
of death? History seems to reflect negatively on the Empress Dowager during the rebellion;
however, missionary accounts mention much western Christian culture that has permeated to
the upper levels of the Dynasty. Headland writes in his article The Reform Movement in
China from the Chinese Recorder From the time of the introduction of Christianity into
China until the present the Missions of all churches have had schools connected with their
work, and from these schools have gone out a great number of young men who have taken
positions in all departments of business, and many of State. 14 Within the same account by
Headland he also recalled one of the Empress Dowagers close companions, a eunuch, would
come over almost daily in search of new reading material from western perspectives that had
been translated.
13 Larry Clinton Thompson 2009. William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion:
Heroism, Hubris and the "Ideal Missionary McFarland and Company.
14 Isaac Taylor Headland 1900. The Chinese Recorder. The Reform Movement in
China. Shanghai. T. Chu.

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Likely the most compelling account in understanding the relationship with the Headlands
and Christians of the time in China is that of Isaac Taylor Headlands second wife who was
the Head of the Presbyterian Womens Hospital in Peking. This account was written by
Roger Applegate in his short biography on the Headlands missionary work.
Due in part to her status as a female doctor, the new Mrs. Headland was the physician
to the family of the Empress Dowager's mother and sister as well as to many of the
princesses and high official ladies in Peking. She was welcomed at court in both her
official as well as a social capacity and the above mentioned ladies were frequent
visitors to the Headland home. In fact, it was through her knowledge and contacts that
Rev. Headland was able to observe and write one of his books on the "Court Life in
China".15
With sources pointing to a seemingly amicable relationship with many high ranking Chinese
officials, why were the Christians persecuted during this time of turmoil? And there is also
the question of our modern historical perspective. Why is it that when we look at the buildup to conflict and the persecutions under the Boxer Rebellion the Empress Dowager seems to
be painted in a seemingly anti-Christian light?
Much of the answer is that of circumstances. When reflecting upon the situation of
the ever dividing and shrinking influence of the Qing Dynasty it is important to notice the
Empress Dowagers desperation move to side with the winning power. It was not
necessarily true that siding with the Boxer rebellion was the safe choice, but in order to

15 Roger Applegate. Rev. Isaac Taylor Headland: Missionary to China. Milestones Vol
34 No. 3.
http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/Churches/RevHeadland
toChina/RevHeadlandMissarytoChina.html.

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maintain control, sympathizing with the population that was riding the wave of nationalism
and Chinese pride gave her merit and she maintained what power she had left with the
Chinese people. The killing of Christians was not a targeting of religion that we often see
throughout history, but instead it seems to be an eradication of a spreading culture that was
changing the Chinese identity and was seen as a threat. From the perspective of viewing the
rebellion with a History of Christianity lens it has become apparent through many primary
sources, from missionaries as well as in the biography of the Headland missionaries, that the
focus of violence did not seem to stem from a belief or the antithesis of a Christian belief, but
instead stemmed from growing xenophobia and seeming loss of cultural identity amongst the
Chinese. One must also be able to see the global picture around the events and violence
within the rebellion. While the global powers of the world descended upon a weakened
China, international organizations were internally changing the landscape of Chinese politics,
business, industry, medicine and religion in the form of Christian missions and they just
happened to be a very easy target in terms of identifying and ridding China of interlopers.
Bibliography
Daniel H. Bays 2012. A New History of Christianity in China. Chichester, West Sussex: WileyBlackwell.
Isaac Taylor Headland 1900. The Chinese Recorder. The Reform Movement in China. Shanghai.
T. Chu.
Isaac Taylor Headland 1902. Chinese Heroes; being a record of persecutions endured by native
Christians in the Boxer uprising. New York : Eaton & Mains; Cincinnati, Jennings &
Pye.
Jonathan D. Spence 1990. The Search for Modern China. W.W. Norton and Company, New York.
Joseph Esherick 1987. The Origins of the Boxer Uprising. University of California Press.

Scott 10

Lanxin Xiang 2003. The Origins of the Boxer War: A Multinational Study. St. Edmundsbury
Press Ltd.
Larry Clinton Thompson 2009. William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris
and the "Ideal Missionary McFarland and Company.
Paul A. Cohen 1997. History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth.
Columbia University Press.
Roger Applegate. Rev. Isaac Taylor Headland: Missionary to China. Milestones Vol 34 No. 3.
http://www.bchistory.org/beavercounty/BeaverCountyTopical/Churches/RevHeadland
toChina/RevHeadlandMissarytoChina.html.
The Virginia Enterprise., November 08, 1907.