Decline of the Qing

[xuechengfeng]

leading to the 1911 revolution -- what would you say the key events were, and when did the decline start?

[bhchao]

leading to the 1911 revolution -- what would you say the key events were, and when did the decline start?

More info:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/3791-the-secret-files-of-forbidden-city&page=1&pp=10

The decline started during the middle of the Qianlong reign around 1770.

1. Fiscal and economic decline caused by Qianlong's huge taste for the finer things in life (this link provides more information, http://www.aasianst.org/absts/1995abst/china/csess65.htm)

2. Corruption within the Qing court itself (ex. The notorious He Shen and other officials amassed personal wealth worth more than the imperial treasury, taxes from the populace went straight into these officials' pockets. He was a favorite of Qianlong and the emperor did nothing to stop this),

3. The failure of Qianlong and his successors in realizing the upcoming threat posed by rapidly industrializing nations, and refusal to initiate reforms during this crucial period (1796-1860?) amidst the Industrial Revolution.

4. (This is related to #3). Arrogance and pride. The failure to embrace reforms is tied to Qianlong and his successors' Sino-centric mindset, in which Chinese values and traditional ways of governing were viewed as superior, while foreign ideas were looked down upon and viewed as inferior or barbaric. (a sharp contrast to the Tang dynasty or open-mindedness of Qianlong's grandfather Kangxi).

5. A minor factor is that Confucianism was too deeply embedded in all aspects of Chinese society (especially within the government itself). This rigidity helped prevent the 19th century Qing rulers from embracing much needed reforms.

I think the best way to summarize it is that Qianlong wasted a lot of money (especially on those inspection visits to the southern cities south of the Yangzi), was too proud and arrogant, and had the wrong view that China was the most advanced and civilized country in the world, when in fact the West had already surpassed China.

Basically Qianlong put the first nail in the coffin, while the Empress Dowager put the final nail in the coffin.

[xuechengfeng]

I'm trying to write a paper for my Chinese politics class, so thanks for the help, so far. I'll go over the reasons my professor covered as to why there was a total collapse, making way for the KMT & CCP.

1) The Confucian examination system set up a government that was only versed in Confucian classics, so they were intelligent, yet underqualified for running technical positions. Also, it was problematic because Confucian education is generally only accessed by those who have money, meaning social mobility was minimal to non-existant.

2) Like you said, being too Sinocentric. The Chinese were not technologically driven or open to Western influences at all.

3) Corruption, warlordism, agriculture not keeping up with population growth.

4) The Opium War exposes the weakness of military and the flaws in Sinocentrism.

5) Rebellion, namely --> Taiping. Flood, famine, disease, all indicative of an emperor losing the Mandate of Heaven.

6) The embarrassing defeat in the Sino-Japanese war.

7) The reaction to the Hundred Days Reform, when havoc was caused by the coup carried out through Empress Dowager's opposition.

8.) The chaos caused by the Boxer Rebellion.

9) The rise of Sun Yatsen and followers.

Let me know if these are all valid causes for the downfall of the Qing. I'm focused more on the complete ending of the dynasty, as the professor only began covering at the beginning of the Opium War.

[bhchao]

1) The Confucian examination system set up a government that was only versed in Confucian classics, so they were intelligent, yet underqualified for running technical positions. Also, it was problematic because Confucian education is generally only accessed by those who have money, meaning social mobility was minimal to non-existant.

The Confucian examination system with its emphasis on reciting ancient texts, instead of applying practical knowledge, way outlived its time by the end of the Qing dynasty. But I do not think that was a cause of the Qing decline.

4) The Opium War exposes the weakness of military and the flaws in Sinocentrism.

That is an accurate statement. However the Opium War (1840) was a result of China's weakness during the Qing decline that already began in the late 18th century. The Opium War did not directly cause the Qing decline, although it did aggravate China's situation. Instead the Opium War was a symptom of Qing decay. Without it, Qing would have collapsed anyway.

Foreign encroachment was the result of Qing China's own weakness during that period, not the cause of it. Everything was within the Qing rulers' control, but they took no action in moving China forward. Instead they were still living in antiquity. If I was in Qianlong's place during the late 18th century, I would have preserved Chinese values and ways of governing, while adopting Western ideas and technologies at the same time. If it works, it works. To echo Deng Xiaoping, who cares if it's black or white, as long as it catches mice. I will be ruthlessly practical by using Western technology against the Europeans themselves. If I lived during that period, I would view Western technology as technology invented by human beings, rather than technology invented by people of a different skin color. So I will employ it to its fullest potential.

Unfortunately Qianlong and the 19th century Qing rulers (especially the notorious Empress Dowager Cixi, the one with the super long fingernails) didn't see it that way. I think your instructor might touch upon 康有為 and 梁啟超's attempted reforms in the Hundred Days Reform period (which you mentioned) during Cixi's reign. Rather than embracing their reforms even partially, she obstructed them and executed many of their followers. To top it off, she used funds set aside for modernizing China's navy to build her Summer Palace instead.

This is just like Bush using the surplus he inherited to finance a huge tax cut, rather than using the surplus to pay down the national debt. This is how the US got its current record high budget deficit.

[bhchao]

6) The embarrassing defeat in the Sino-Japanese war.

Yes, that helped speed up the Qing collapse. Under the terms of the 1895 treaty ending the war, China had to pay Japan 477 million taels in principal for losing the war. An additional 200 million taels in interest were paid out between 1895 and 1911.

9) The rise of Sun Yatsen and followers.

Sun dealt the final death blow. By the time Sun Yatsen and his followers' carried out the 武昌起義 in 1911, Qing was almost lifeless. All Sun's revolutionaries had to do was make a little push against the remnants of the Qing government at Wuchang in Hubei. This was followed by uprisings in other provinces. That did the trick.

[xuechengfeng]

Hey thanks for all the help, outside of the links you've posted, do you have any other recommendations for books/sites that will help me on a 10-12 page journey talking about the decline & collapse of the Qing? Also, let me know if you want to read my paper to see how bad it is afterwards.

ohh... I just thought of another reason. How about the fact that the rulers were foreign ruling, non-Han, in a time of growing nationalism?

[bhchao]

1) The Confucian examination system set up a government that was only versed in Confucian classics, so they were intelligent, yet underqualified for running technical positions. Also, it was problematic because Confucian education is generally only accessed by those who have money, meaning social mobility was minimal to non-existant.

Actually you were quite right on this being a factor in the Qing collapse, although I would say it's a minor one. A more accurate statement would be that this flaw in the examination system stunted China's modernization efforts in the late 19th century.

Check out page 7 of this document, written by Edward Kaplan from Western Washington University: http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/H370/rp36.pdf

"Even or perhaps especially when repurification of Chinese studies was at its best and most principled level of use, it tended to crowd out the Westernization parts of reform. Logically and existentially, the two could not occupy the same civilizational space.

For example, once the reforms had restored the purity of the exams by purging cheaters and insisting on the application of Zhu Xi's doctrines in both the questions and the essays answering the questions, what space did that allow for specialized exams on algebra, French and European history taken by people who had gone to the arsenal and shipyard schools?

There was no room at all for such exams. That is why it made perfect sense for a self-conscious decision to be made in the course of the 1860's to not allow these new specialized subjects into the civil service exams.

There are both ancient and contemporary analogs for this failure. This was exactly the sort of thing that the enemies of Wang Anshi did in the late 11th century when they refused to allow native Chinese technical specialties into the exams. They preferred general exams that not as many people could afford to prepare for. Such general exams limited the size of the meritocracy by limiting competition from lower social ranks...."

So the subject material of the exams focused too heavily on Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism philosophy, rather than focus on practical skills (like mathematics or engineering) that were needed for people to develop China's infrastructure, arsenals and shipyards. This narrow focus on ancient philosophy catered to the Chinese gentry who were well-to-do and could afford the exams, and did prevent social mobility (as you mentioned) from commoners with huge potential talent whose strengths lie in practical areas.

[bhchao]

do you have any other recommendations for books/sites that will help me on a 10-12 page journey talking about the decline & collapse of the Qing? Also, let me know if you want to read my paper to see how bad it is afterwards.

Can I take a look at your paper? (If you want, you can send it through pm). You had some great insights here.

ohh... I just thought of another reason. How about the fact that the rulers were foreign ruling, non-Han, in a time of growing nationalism?

Yeah that was a sentiment that grew in the last half of the 19th century, when Sun Yatsen's movement was growing and China was being carved up into spheres of influence.

Chapters 33-38 at this site talks about the decline of the Qing. http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/

[Hann]

This was a great little back and forth between you two and I would also be interested in reading you article after you complete it.

Let me know if this can be done.

[gato]

Both internal and external factors contribute to the collapse of any empire or nation. The Late Qing was corrupt and inert, but without outsiders invading and exploiting its weaknesses, the Qing might have lasted a while longer.

I think you'll see that pattern recurring throughout Chinese and world history. The Ottoman Empire, for example, had been in decline for a few hundred years before its final collapse, which only occurred because the Ottomans bet on the Germans in World War I and allied themselves with the wrong side.

We saw something similar with the Soviet empire in the late 1980s. We might be seeing something similar happening in the Middle East today.

[Ian_Lee]

The most important reason that caused Qing decline is: Manchus and the Mongols (who were affiliated to the Manchus Royal family thru marriage) had lost grip on Qing's military power.

Mao said, "Power out of Gun Barrel". In 1910s, who held a firm grip on Qing's military?

Yuan Shih Kai. Yuan was asked by Qing to establish the first western style military school in Tientsin after the suppression of Boxer Movement. By the time that the Revolution started in 1912, all commanders in Qing's garrisons were either Yuan's colleagues or allies or students.

Yuan didn't want to fight. So it ended the fate of Qing.

In reality it was Yuan but not Sun that toppled Qing.

[xuechengfeng]

I thought the role of Yuan was merely him fulfilling the request to restore order after the 1911 revolution, and then people started getting angry with him when he was making ridiculous concessions to the Japanese, so by the time he died, it was time for a new look?

[skylee]

Yuan declared himself the emperor and that lasted for 83 days.

[xuechengfeng]

Yuan declared himself the emperor and that lasted for 83 days.

So was it his death that caused the transition to a new rule, or was it his compliance with demands of the Japanese?

[bhchao]

Yuan Shih Kai. Yuan was asked by Qing to establish the first western style military school in Tientsin after the suppression of Boxer Movement. By the time that the Revolution started in 1912, all commanders in Qing's garrisons were either Yuan's colleagues or allies or students.

Ian is right. Of course Yuan did not directly cause the Qing decline in the first place, but his refusal to help the Qing suppress the October 10th Revolution in 1911 sealed Qing's fate. So I stand corrected. In actuality it was Yuan who dealt the death blow to the Qing. At that time he was incapacitated with a foot injury, and he used that as an excuse to not ally with the Qing government. Qing had previously retired him from service.

At that time Sun's revolutionaries were politically naive and Qing's cause was hopeless, and Yuan knew that. So he played the two sides against each other, knowing that his control of the army will allow him to be the first emperor of a new dynasty.

[bhchao]

So was it his death that caused the transition to a new rule, or was it his compliance with demands of the Japanese?

Yuan's death was the turning point that had huge repercussions on the ROC's fate because it threw China into warlordism. He was probably the only one capable of holding his 北洋軍 together. Many of Yuan's generals became warlords after his death. The ensuing warlord era divided China and prevented a strong central government authority from taking place. It limited the effectiveness of the KMT government. Without a strong unified backbone and warlords making their own decisions in local military matters, the KMT regime was unable to coordinate everyone together in the future fight against the Japanese.

Sun was too idealistic. If he had control of an army to back up his idealism, the ROC's fate would have been quite different. He had to cooperate with Yuan to gain military backing, but Yuan had his own personal imperial ambitions.

Had Yuan thrown his full backing behind Sun (which was extremely unlikely since Yuan wanted to become emperor), Sun would have easily unified China under one strong central government authority.

[bhchao]

Yuan also played a pivotal role in ending the Hundred Days Reform. During the Reform period, the young reformers allied to Emperor Guangxu wanted Yuan to help them capture the Empress Dowager in a palace revolt by supplying them with troops. Instead of aiding them, Yuan told Cixi everything about the planned revolt. She then ordered the arrest of the Emperor and the reformers, and six of the reformers were captured and executed.

Kang Yuwei and Liang Qichao escaped just in time to Japan.

So Yuan was quite the unscrupulous fellow whose allegiances changed based on his own interests at the time. He was loyal to the Empress because she was useful to his career, but no longer became interested in serving Qing after the court retired him from service following Cixi's death.

[skylee]

This is about Tan Sitong (譚嗣同), from 戊戍六君子傳 written by 梁啟超 -

"二十九日，皇上召見楊銳，遂賜衣帶詔，有“朕位幾不保，命康與四卿及同志速設法籌救”之詔。君與康先生捧詔慟哭，而皇上手無寸柄，無所爲計。時諸將之中，惟袁世凱久使朝鮮，講中外之故，力主變法。君密奏請皇上結以恩遇，冀緩急或可救助，詞極激切。八月初一日，上召見袁世凱，特賞侍郎。初二日復召見。初三日夕，君徑造袁所寓之法華寺，直詰袁曰：“君謂皇上何如人也？”袁曰：“曠代之聖主也。”君曰：“天津閱兵之陰謀，君知之乎？”袁曰：“然，固有所聞。” 君乃直出密詔示之曰：“今日可以救我聖主者，惟在足下，足下欲救則救之。”又以手自撫其頸曰：“苟不欲救，請至頤和園首僕而殺僕，可以得富貴也。”袁正色厲聲曰：“君以袁某爲何如人哉？聖主乃吾輩所共事之主，僕與足下同受非常之遇，救護之責，非獨足下，若有所教，僕固願聞也。”… (And then Yuan Shikai betrayed them all.)

至初五日，袁復召見，聞亦奉有密詔云。至初六日變遂發。時余方訪君寓，對坐榻上，有所擘劃，而抄捕南海館（康先生所居也）之報忽至，旋聞垂簾之諭。君從容語余曰：“昔欲救皇上既無可救，今欲救先生亦無可救，吾已無事可辦，惟待死期耳。雖然，天下事知其不可而為之，足下試入日本使館，謁伊藤氏，請致電上海領事而救先生焉。”余是夕宿日本使館，君竟日不出門，以待捕者。 …

初七八九三日，君復與俠士謀救皇上，事卒不成。初十日遂被逮。被逮之前一日，日本志士數輩苦勸君東遊，君不聽。再四強之，君曰：“各國變法，無不從流血而成。今中國未聞有因變法而流血者，此國之所以不昌也。有之，請自嗣同始！”卒不去，故及於難。君既系獄，題一詩於獄壁曰：“望門投止思張儉，忍死須臾待杜根。我自橫刀向天笑，去留肝膽兩崑崙。”蓋念南海也。以八月十三日斬於市，春秋三十有三。"

[xuechengfeng]

The Fall of the Qing Dynasty

The Mandate of Heaven has always been a central concept of political importance to the Chinese. It is very likely that this idea originated in the Zhou dynasty, between 1027 and 771 B.C. The premise states that the ruler, regarded as the “Son of Heaven,” had the authorization from above to govern. This ancient notion is depicted in the Chinese character for “King.” This symbol demonstrates three vertical lines, with a horizontal line connecting from top to bottom. The uppermost line depicts heaven, the middle the ruler, and the base represents humanity; the horizontal line illustrates heaven connected to humanity through the ruler. The loss of this mandate was generally marked by various negative instances, such as corruption, rebellion, and the most frequent sign, a natural disaster. The Qing dynasty was the last to rule in a more than 4,000-year dynastic chain, since the advent of the debatable Xia dynasty, beginning around 2100 B.C. The reign of the Qing began in 1644 and the mandate was abruptly lost as result of revolution, in 1911. The various failures contributing to the fall of the Qing dynasty were numerous military defeats and citizen rebellions, rampant corruption, Sino centrism, Confucianism, failed reforms, and formalized internal opposition.

The Qing dynasty succeeded the Ming in 1644, and was only the second dynasty of conquest to rule over all of China, in company with the infamous Mongolian dynasty (Yuan). The Ming government experienced a sequence of economic and military disasters throughout the late 1630’s and early 1640’s, which enabled the foreign Manchu forces to establish control. Essential to maintaining order and legitimacy during the Qing dynasty was assimilating Chinese citizens into the governmental and military processes, while assuring that the distinct flavor of Manchu culture was not lost. Chinese collaborators contributed enormously to the success of military campaigns, as well as playing an integral, but subordinate part in the ethnically balanced central government. However, one of the first notorious and most successful emperors, Kangxi, closed Manchuria to Chinese immigration, forbid Chinese-Manchu marriage, and prohibited Manchu women from binding their feet, which was an ancient Chinese practice designed for achievement of aesthetic value. As trade of goods such as cotton, silk, and hemp flourished, the Qing dynasty saw increased prosperity. New crops were also introduced, such as corn, sweet potatoes, and peanuts, as a result of the newly discovered Americas. The result was a population explosion and an overall improved standard of living. However, in spite of benefits accrued from relations with the Western world, eventually the breakdown of affairs between China and the British resulted in the beginning of the end for the Qing dynasty.

Britain had invested heavily in the manufacture and distribution of opium, and the revenues amassed were essential for Britain’s balance-of-payments strategy. The monopoly of the East India Company disseminated more and more quantities into China because of the drug’s inherently addictive nature and high tolerance levels of the addict. So much opium infiltrated Chinese society that the balance of trade was reversed, and the massive payments of the standard currency, silver, caused a decline in the exchange rate between it and copper coinage. This was problematic, as the peasants used copper for everyday transactions, but were forced to pay taxes in silver. Scarcity of silver and increased value relative to copper meant that they were paying higher-taxes, which caused massive civil unrest. To make matters worse, the East India Company was agitated because of unfair trade relations and prohibition of opium, so Britain abolished their monopoly. This opened up the market for free trade, which caused a substantial increase in opium sales, furthering drug addictions and the associated consequences on society. In 1838, Emperor Daoguang decided all opium trade must be stopped, and he appointed Commissioner Lin Zexu to enforce his decree. An opium crackdown ensued, which involved educational efforts warning of the negative consequences of the drug, as well as prosecution of anybody caught in the trade or consumption of opium. The event marking an essential declaration of war occurred after the British Superintendent of Trade turned over an excess of 20,000 chests of opium, or close to 3 million pounds, because of factory blockades and demands to cease trade. Lin Zexu and his cohorts took twenty-three days to destroy all of the opium, and in a fashion reminiscent of the Boston Tea Party, flushed the remnants out to sea.

The war was a watershed in Chinese history, as it was the beginning of several conflicts contributing to the decline and eventual collapse of the Qing. The hostilities began in 1839 and lasted until 1842; the actual fighting was decisive and an exhibition of the weakness of the Chinese military. Britain formally declared war in 1840. The Chinese were already prepared to negotiate as early as January 1841, but talks failed; fighting resumed, with the eventual closure coming in Nanjing on August 29, 1842. The consequences of China’s humiliating defeat in this war resulted in the unequal Treaty of Nanjing, which contained the following provisions: an indemnity of $21,000,000 Spanish silver; four ports opened to foreign trade; equal relations between Britain and China; the elimination of the Cohong monopoly, which was a guild of Chinese merchants who served as native guarantors, closely supervising Western merchants and preventing merchant-to-government official relations; fixed tariffs on imports and exports; and the permanent surrender of Hong Kong to Britain. The Treaty of Nanjing was supplemented by the 1843 Treaty of Bogue, which provided Britain with extraterritoriality and most-favored-nation status. The latter was also conceded to the United States and France in 1844, as well as other minor details, such as the authorization of American maintenance of churches and hospitals in treaty ports and the permission for the French to propagate Catholicism. The end of the Opium War and the treaties that ensued left the Qing government with a bruised ego, civil unrest, and a precedent of being taken advantage of by Western powers.

The beginning of significant internal tribulations began in 1850, as the Qing dynasty endured the Taiping Rebellion for the next fourteen years. The origins of the rebellion lie in the delirious visions of Hong Xiuquan, who believed that he saw God and was the elder brother of Jesus Christ, with the mission to save mankind and exterminate demons. Hong emphasized the Old Testament of the Bible, and was adamant about adherence to the First Commandment of “thou shall not have other gods before me.” His aims were to rid of Buddhist and Daoist idols, Confucian tablets, and achieve a morally righteous and egalitarian society, which was impossible with the “demon” Manchu rule. This Sinicized Christianity resistance movement grew rapidly, and was rumored to have a force of more than one million members by the time they took Nanjing in 1853. Despite numerous successful military campaigns, the movement ultimately failed in numerous areas. Officials demonstrated hypocrisy by calling for monogamy but had concubines; they failed to strike before the dynasty could regroup; they did not cooperate with other secret societies to amalgamate forces; and most essentially, they antagonized the most influential members of society, Confucianists. The saving grace of the dynasty came through the innovative military forces organized by Zeng Guofan, which offered a paternalistic attitudes towards their men, dispensed a generous pay, and established strong regional ties, far superior to the previously used Qing forces. A series of victories by the newfound forces eventually eradicated a movement once so close to victory, with the final blows being dealt with Hong Xiuquan committing suicide and Nanjing falling to Zeng Guofan’s brother. Fourteen years of internal rebellion facing such an enormous, determined, and seemingly professional opposition severely undermined the legitimacy of the Qing government. The rebellion had the effect of causing critical civil unrest through political and economic factors, as well as leaving the potential for future problems by inspiring future revolutionaries.

[xuechengfeng]

Another harmful quarrel that factored into the weakening of the Qing was the Sino-French war of 1884 to 1885. The issue at hand was the French attempt at expanding its empire, which involved colonizing Vietnam, and sovereignty slowly withered away. Disorder occurred in 1882, and the French justified this as a precursor for seizing Hanoi. China and Vietnam had traditional tributary relations with each other, so when invaded, Vietnam requested the support of the Qing military. Much to the dismay of a Chinese general and leading statesmen, Li Hongzhang, the Qing lent military assistance. The Qing government’s false sense of confidence was a result of negotiating back land from Russia. Li realized that China’s navy did not compare to industrial France, and felt negotiating to avoid conflict was the necessary step, even if it meant losing face. The outcome was disastrous. “The Chinese flagship was sunk by torpedoes in the first minute of battle; within seven minutes, most of the Chinese ships were hit; within one hour every ship was sunk or on fire and the arsenal and docks destroyed.” With naval power nullified, the Chinese loss was inevitable, and eventually sealed up within the year. Another war brought another catastrophic, unequal treaty. China was obligated to desert claim to suzerainty over Vietnam, as well as formally recognize France’s protectorates over Annam, Tonkin, Cambodia, and Laos. Within the next two years of the end of the war, Britain decided to emulate France’s aggression and declared Burma a protectorate, while China ceded Macao to Portugal in 1887. These concessions to Western powers were an embarrassment to the legitimacy of the Qing government.

The last important war the Qing fought was a nail-in-the-coffin loss for a prideful nation; the Chinese engaged in war with “little brother,” Japan, from 1894 to 1895. Along with Vietnam, China also had tributary relations with Korea, who deferred those seeking diplomatic relations to Beijing. Japan was unhappy with this relationship and demanded a presence in Korea. Involvement in the country escalated, but it seemed as if tensions had cooled momentarily. However, when the religiously driven Tongshak Rebellion caused civil unrest, China and Japan both sent troops for suppression. The problem arose when Japanese troops entered Seoul, broke into the palace, and kidnapped the king and queen, to which China responded with an escalation of troops, inevitably causing war. Expectations were to see a Chinese victory, but once again, China was defeated in less than a year by a force that was better equipped, better led, and more united than a factionalist, corrupt Chinese government and military. The Treaty of Shimonoseki once again proved that China was taken advantage of for the internally weak and externally disrespected state that it was. Provisions included relinquishing China’s role in Korea, declaring it an independent state, paying a massive war indemnity of 200 million taels, ceding Taiwan, the Pescadores, and the Liaodong region of southern Manchuria, the opening of seven additional ports, and the allowance of Japanese factories and other industrial enterprises in any of the treaty ports. The last of China’s major military conflicts brought about a major shift in East Asian power, helping build the Japanese empire. With three wars in less than fifty years, the Qing government and China lost its international respect and internal legitimacy.

The inception of the Boxer Rebellion arose a short five years after Japan dealt a devastating blow to the Chinese, in 1900. The members who initiated the uprising were known as the Righteous and Harmonious Fists, or the Boxers. This movement was contrary to the Taiping Rebellion, as it was inherently anti-Christian. The Boxers were a mythical group who practiced martial arts exercises and believed that they were unable to be injured at the hands of foreign bullets. This association developed as response to pitiful economic conditions, the unfair privileges enjoyed by missionaries and their converts, and the spread of railways, which were laid across graves of ancestors, a major faux-pas in Chinese culture. The group was originally sanctioned by the empress dowager Ci Xi, being used as a tool to fight against foreign powers, which the Boxers declared war upon. Numbers of Chinese, foreign Christians, and even those who owned Western objects were massacred. The uncoordinated Boxer forces temporarily wreaked havoc upon society, until once again, foreign intervention arrived. A small number of Western forces originally had trouble with the Boxers, but a force coalesced of mostly soldiers from Japan, Russia, the United States, and Britain, and quickly crushed this pernicious movement. Without fail, the Chinese were once again forced to make an inequitable settlement with foreign powers. A huge indemnity was incurred from China, to the tune of 450 million taels. Foreign countries were permitted to permanently station embassy guards and troops between Beijing and the sea. Lastly, the rebellion gave Russia an excuse to occupy Manchuria, which became a point of contention for Japan, ultimately leading to the Russo-Japanese war, which further established Japan as the East Asian power. The economic burden of indemnities coupled with the latest embarrassment of foreign infringement on Chinese sovereignty and internal interference sealed the fate of the Manchu rule and stimulated the pulse of revolution.