[June 20, 2016] If it weren’t for the movie 55 Days at Peking, most Westerners would know little about an important event in China that had a worldwide impact that resonates soundly today.1 The Boxer Rebellion was an outgrowth of colonial powers interfering with Chinese society resulting in China adopting Communism.
This is why the study of history is so important; learning valuable lessons that echo the teachings to those of us who will listen. The most enduring outcome of the entire movement that led to the Boxer Rebellion was that many Chinese became anti-Western (including anti-Japanese), embraced Communism, and adopted a philosophy that rejects all forms of religion. This was to be accomplished through a violent struggle to achieve a utopian, classless society.
Following the defeat of the Boxer Rebellion, which laid siege to the foreign legations’ compounds in Peking (now Beijing) starting on this date, June 20, 1900, China was to experience cyclical rebellions that resulted in starvation, extreme poverty, and the loss of millions of lives. These were times of chaos and despair but ripe for a leader to pull them out of their desperate state of affairs.
That leader was named Mao Zedong. Dedicated to Marxist-Leninism Communist ideology, he was ruthless in eliminating those who threatened his power or his ideology. His Great Leap Forward economic and social policies led to the deaths of tens of millions, was far more destructive than the Western powers’ colonialism. Today, we see that Communist China has softened its stance on capitalism but continues to hold a tight grip on his people.
The seeds of the Boxer Rebellion, in the rejection of Western nation influence and colonialism, opened the minds of the Chinese to a political-economic philosophy that provide greater stability and a shared value system. Their rejection of all things religious was also an outgrowth of their movement away from the ideas of the West which they deemed as shackling of their potential.
The Boxer Rebellion was a refutation of colonialism, and in the case of China, the path toward Communism as their savior. No wonder it is embraced so strongly.
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