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Boxer Protocol

{{Short description|1901 post-Boxer Rebellion peace treaty}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}

{{Infobox Treaty

|name = Boxer Protocol

|long_name = China and the 11 countries' final agreement on compensation for the 1900 turmoil

|image = Chinaboxerprotocolsignature.png

|image_width = 250px

|caption = Signature page of representatives of various countries on the Boxer Protocol settlement

|type = Diplomatic protocol, unequal treaty

|date_drafted =

|date_signed = September 7, 1901 (July 25th, Year Guangxu 27) (Chinese: 光緒)

|location_signed = Spanish Embassy in Beijing

|date_sealed =

|date_effective =

|condition_effective =

|date_expiration =

|signatories =

|parties =

|ratifiers =

|depositor = National Palace Museum, Taipei City

|language = Chinese, French (The agreement is based on French)

| wikisource = Boxer Protocol

}}

{{Chinese

|t=1. 辛丑條約
2. 辛丑各國和約
3. 北京議定書

|s=1. 辛丑条约
2. 辛丑各国和约
3. 北京议定书

|w=1. Hsin1-ch'ou3 T'iao2-yüeh1

|j=1. san1 fu2 tiu4 joek3
2. san1 cau2 gok3 gwok3 wo4 joek3
3. bak1 ging1 ji6 ding6 syu1

|p=1. xīnchǒu tiáoyuē
2. xīnchǒu gè guó héyuē
3. běijīng yìdìngshū

|l=1. Xinchou (year 1901) treaty
2. Xinchou (year 1901) all-nation peace treaty
3. Beijing protocol}}

{{Campaignbox Boxer Rebellion}}

The Boxer Protocol was a diplomatic protocol{{Cite book|title = Dynastic China: An Elementary History|author = Koon San Tan|year = 2014|isbn = 9789839541885|page = 445}} signed in China's capital Beijing on September 7, 1901, between the Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces (including France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Japan, Russia, and the United States) as well as Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands, after China's defeat in the intervention to put down the Boxer Rebellion. The protocol is regarded as one of China's unequal treaties.

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Name

The 1901 protocol is commonly known as the Boxer Protocol or Peace Agreement between the Great Powers and China in English. It is known as the Xinchou Treaty{{Cite book |last=Cheng |first=Wenting |title=China in Global Governance of Intellectual Property: Implications for Global Distributive Justice |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2023 |isbn=978-3-031-24369-1 |series=Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies series}}{{Rp|page=16}} or Beijing protocol in Chinese, where "Xinchou" refers to the year (1901) of signature under the sexagenary cycle system. The full English name of the protocol is Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, United States and China – Final Protocol for the Settlement of the Disturbances of 1900, reflecting its nature as a diplomatic protocol rather than a peace treaty at the time of signature.

Negotiations during the Boxer Rebellion

The Qing dynasty was by no means completely defeated when the Allies took control of the capital Beijing. The Allies had to temper the demands they sent in a message to Xi'an to get the Empress Dowager Cixi to agree with them; for instance, China did not have to give up any land. Many of the Dowager Empress' advisers in the Imperial Court insisted that the war continue against the foreigners, arguing that China could defeat them since it was the disloyal and traitorous people within China who allowed Beijing and Tianjin to be captured by the Allies, and the interior of China was impenetrable. The Dowager was practical and decided that the terms were generous enough for her to acquiesce and stop the war when she was assured of her continued reign.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWxKQejMtlMC&pg=PA312|title=The Boxer Rebellion: the dramatic story of China's war on foreigners that shook the world in the summer of 1900|first=Diana|last=Preston|year=2000|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location= US |page=312|isbn=9780802713612| access-date=March 4, 2011}}

Signatories

The Boxer Protocol was signed on September 7, 1901, in the Spanish Legation in Beijing. Signatories included:{{cite journal |last1=Cologan y Gonzalez-Massieu |first1=Jorge |title=El papel de Espana en la Revolucion de los Boxers de 1900: Un capitulo olvidado en la historia de las relaciones diplomaticas |journal=Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia |date=2008 |volume=205 |issue=3 |page=493 |publisher=La Academia |language=es |oclc=423747062}}

= Foreign powers =

and

File:Signing of Boxer Protocol at Peking, 1901 (western side).jpg
File:Signing of Boxer Protocol at Peking, 1901 (Chinese side).jpg

The clauses

File:《辛丑条约》签字时的情景.jpg

File:Within historic grounds of the Forbidden City in Pekin, China, on November 28 celebrated the victory of the Allies., ca. - NARA - 532582.jpg after the signing of the Boxer Protocol. Immediately identifiable flags in picture: {{flagicon|Kingdom of Italy}} Italy, {{flagicon|French Third Republic}} France, {{flagicon|German Empire}} Germany, {{flagicon|Russian Empire}} Russia and {{flagicon|Empire of Japan}} Japan, 1901.]]

450 million taels of fine silver (around 18,000 tonnes, worth approx. US$333 million or £67 million at the exchange rates of the time) were to be paid as indemnity over 39 years to the eight nations involved.{{cite book |last1=Spence |first1=Jonathan D. |author-link=Jonathan Spence |title=The Search for Modern China |date=1991 |publisher=Norton |location=New York |isbn=0393307808 |edition=1st pbk.}}

The Chinese paid the indemnity in gold on a rising scale with a 4% interest charge until the debt was amortized on December 31, 1940. After 39 years, the amount was almost 1 billion taels (precisely 982,238,150), or ≈{{convert|1180000000|ozt|t|abbr=off}} at 1.2 ozt/tael.

The sum was to be distributed as follows: Russia 28.97%, Germany 20.02%, France 15.75%, Britain 11.25%, Japan 7.73%, United States 7.32%, Italy 7.32%, Belgium 1.89%, Austria-Hungary 0.89%, Netherlands 0.17%, Spain 0.03%, Portugal 0.02%, Sweden and Norway 0.01%.{{cite book |publisher = M.E. Sharpe |title = A History of Modern Shanghai Banking |ol=8054799M |last = Ji |first=Zhaojin |date = March 2003 |isbn=9780765610027|page=75}}

= Other clauses included =

  • To prohibit the importation of arms and ammunition, as well as materials for the production of arms or ammunition, for two years, extensible further two years as the Powers saw necessary.
  • The destruction of Taku Forts.{{cite book |last1=Sondhaus |first1=Lawrence |title=Naval warfare, 1815–1914 |date=2001 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9780415214773}}
  • Legation Quarters occupied by the Powers shall be considered a special area reserved for their use under the exclusive control, in which Chinese shall not have the right to reside and may be defensible. China recognized the right of each Power to maintain a permanent guard in the said Quarters for the defense of its Legation.
  • Boxers and government officials were to be punished for crimes or attempted crimes against foreign governments or their nationals. Many were sentenced to execution, deported to Xinjiang, imprisoned for life, forced to commit suicide, or suffered posthumous degradation.
  • The "Office in Charge of Affairs of All Nations" (Zongli Yamen) was replaced with a Foreign Office, which ranked above the other six boards in the government.
  • The Chinese government was to prohibit forever, under pain of death, membership in any anti-foreign society, civil service examinations were to be suspended for five years in all areas where foreigners were massacred or subjected to cruel treatment, and provincial and local officials would personally be held responsible for any new anti-foreign incidents.
  • The emperor of China was to convey his regrets to the German emperor for the assassination of Baron von Ketteler.
  • The emperor of China was to appoint Na't'ung to be his envoy extraordinary and direct him to also convey to the emperor of Japan his expression of regrets and that of his government at the assassination of Mr. Sugiyama.
  • The Chinese government would have to erect on the spot of the assassination of Baron von Ketteler a commemorative arch inscribed in Latin, German, and Chinese.
  • Concede the right to the Powers to station troops in the following places:Pamphlets on the Chinese-Japanese War, 1939–1945. [Published 1937]

Sino-Japanese Conflict, 1937–45. Digitized May 30, 2007. No ISBN.

class="wikitable"

! Traditional Chinese

! Simplified Chinese

! Pinyin

! Transliterated names from early text using a system that pre-dates Pinyin

黃村黄村HuangcunHuang-tsun
郎坊（廊坊）郎坊(廊坊)LangfangLang-fang
楊村杨村YangcunYang-tsun
天津天津TianjinTien-tsin
軍糧城军粮城JunliangchengChun-liang-Cheng
塘沽塘沽TangguTong-ku
蘆臺芦台LutaiLu-tai
唐山唐山TangshanTong-shan
灤州滦州LuanzhouLan-chou
昌黎昌黎ChangliChang-li
秦皇島秦皇岛QinhuangdaoChin-wang Tao
山海關山海关ShanhaiguanShan-hai Kuan

Hoax demands

The French Catholic vicar apostolic, Msgr. Alfons Bermyn, wanted foreign troops garrisoned in Inner Mongolia, but the governor refused. Bermyn resorted to lies and falsely petitioned the Manchu Enming to send troops to Hetao, where Prince Duan's Mongol troops and General Dong Fuxiang's Muslim troops allegedly threatened Catholics. It turned out that Bermyn had created the incident as a hoax.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSl5cl_wt24C&q=ma+fuxiang+gelaohui&pg=PA203|title=Chronique du Toumet-Ortos: looking through the lens of Joseph Van Oost, missionary in Inner Mongolia (1915–1921)|author=Ann Heylen|year=2004|publisher=Leuven University Press|location=Leuven, Belgium|page=203|isbn=90-5867-418-5|access-date=June 28, 2010}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z2japTNPRNAC&q=prince+mongol+general+whole+affair+hoax+catholic&pg=PA539|title=Han-Mongol encounters and missionary endeavors: a history of Scheut in Ordos (Hetao) 1874–1911|author=Patrick Taveirne|year=2004|publisher=Leuven University Press|location=Leuven, Belgium|page=539|isbn=90-5867-365-0|access-date=June 28, 2010}} One of the false reports claimed that Dong Fuxiang wiped out Belgian missionaries in Mongolia and was going to massacre Catholics in Taiyuan.{{cite book |title=Fire and sword in Shansi: the story of the martyrdom of foreigners and Chinese Christians |first=E. H. |last= Edwards |year=1903 |page=[https://archive.org/details/fireswordinshans00edwauoft/page/167 167] |publisher = Revell |location = New York |ol= 13518958M |url=https://archive.org/details/fireswordinshans00edwauoft}}{{cite book|title=The I. G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart, Chinese Maritime Customs, 1868–1907|first1=Robert|last1=Hart|first2=James Duncan|last2=Campbell|editor1-first=John King|editor1-last=Fairbank|editor2-first=Katherine Frost|editor2-last=Bruner|editor3-first=Elizabeth MacLeod|editor3-last=Matheson|year=1975|publisher=Harvard University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZybVIprRUMC&pg=PA1271|page=1271|isbn=0674443209|access-date=24 April 2014}}

Demands rejected by China

The Qing did not capitulate to all foreign demands. The Manchu Governor Yuxian was executed, but the Imperial court refused to execute the Chinese General Dong Fuxiang, although both were anti-foreign and had been accused of encouraging the killing of foreigners during the rebellion.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40WRdm1LstQC&q=doing+fuxiang+russian&pg=PA98|title=Beijing: a concise history|author=Stephen G. Haw|author-link=Stephen G. Haw|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|page=98|isbn=978-0-415-39906-7|access-date=June 28, 2010}} Instead, General Dong Fuxiang lived a life of luxury and power in "exile" in his home province of Gansu.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Encyclopædia of religion and ethics |volume=8 |editor1-last=Hastings |editor1-first=James |editor2-last=Selbie |editor2-first=John Alexander |editor3-last=Gray |editor3-first=Louis Herbert |year=1915 |publisher=T. & T. Clark |page=894 |url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofr08hastuoft |location=Edinburgh |oclc = 3065458}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rezD7rvuf9YC&q=ma+fu-hsiang&pg=PA850|title=E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936|author=M. Th. Houtsma, A. J. Wensinck|year=1993|publisher=Stanford Brill|page=850|isbn=90-04-09796-1|access-date=June 28, 2010}}

In addition to sparing Dong Fuxiang, the Qing refused to exile the Boxer supporter Prince Zaiyi to Xinjiang, as the foreigners demanded. Instead, he moved to Alashan, west of Ningxia, and lived in the residence of the local Mongol prince. He then moved to Ningxia during the Xinhai Revolution when the Muslims took control of Ningxia, and finally moved to Xinjiang with Sheng Yun.{{cite book |last=Teichman |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Teichman |url=https://archive.org/stream/travelsofconsula00teic#page/188/mode/2up |title=Travels of a Consular Officer In North-West China |publisher=CUP Archive |location=Cambridge |page=188 |ol=14046010M |date=1921 |oclc=2585746}}

Prince Duan "went no farther than Manchuria for exile, and was heard of there in 1908".{{cite book |title=The Boxer Rebellion: A Political and Diplomatic Review |first=Paul Henry |last=Clements |year=1915 |publisher=Columbia University |page=[https://archive.org/details/boxerrebellionpo00clem/page/201 201] |url=https://archive.org/details/boxerrebellionpo00clem |ol=24661390M }}

Spending and remittance

On December 28, 1908, the United States remitted $11,961,121.76 of its share of the Indemnity to support the education of Chinese students in the United States and the construction of Tsinghua University in Beijing,{{cite book|last1=Elleman|first1=Bruce A.|title=Diplomacy and deception : the secret history of Sino-Soviet diplomatic relations, 1917–1927|date=1998|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|location=Armonk (N.Y.)|isbn=0765601435|page=144}} thanks to the efforts of the Chinese ambassador Liang Cheng.{{cite web | url=http://history.cultural-china.com/en/47History11546.html | title=Liang Cheng, The "Diplomatic Hero" | work=Cultural China | publisher=Shanghai News and Press Bureau | access-date=November 22, 2015 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023161302/http://history.cultural-china.com/en/47History11546.html | archive-date=October 23, 2012 | df=mdy-all }}

When China declared war on Germany and Austria in 1917, it suspended the combined German and Austrian share of the Boxer Indemnity, which totaled 20.91 percent. At the Paris Peace Conference, Beijing succeeded in completely revoking the German and Austrian shares of the Boxer Indemnity.{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=145}}

The history surrounding Russia's share of the Boxer Indemnity is the most complex of all the nations involved. On December 2, 1918, the Bolsheviks issued an official decree abolishing Russia's share of the Indemnity (146). Upon the arrival of Lev Karakhan in Beijing during the fall of 1923, however, it became clear that the Soviet Union expected to retain control over how the Russian share was to be spent. Though Karakhan was initially hesitant to follow the United States' example of directing the funds toward education, he soon insisted in private that the Russian share had to be used for that purpose and, during February 1924, presented a proposal stating that the "Soviet portion of the Boxer Indemnity would be allocated to Chinese educational institutions."{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=147}} On March 14, 1924, Karakhan completed a draft Sino-Soviet agreement stating, "The government of the USSR agrees to renounce the Russian portion of the Boxer Indemnity." Copies of these terms were published in the Chinese press, and the positive public reaction encouraged other countries to match the USSR's terms. On May 21, 1924, the U.S. Congress agreed to remit the final $6,137,552.90 of the American share to China. Ten days later, however, it became apparent that the USSR did not intend to carry through on its earlier promise of full renunciation. When the final Sino-Soviet agreement was announced, it specified that Russia's share would be used to promote education in China and that the Soviet government would retain control over how the money was to be used, an exact parallel to the U.S. remittance of 1908.{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=148}}

On March 3, 1925, Great Britain completed arrangements to use its share of the Boxer Indemnity to support railway construction in China. On April 12, France asked that its indemnity be used to reopen a defunct Sino-French Bank. Italy signed an agreement on October 1 to spend its share on the construction of steel bridges. The Netherlands' share paid for harbor and land reclamation. The Netherlands also used its indemnity for the establishment of the Sinological Institute at Leiden University.{{cite book|last1=Idema|first1=Wilt|title=Chinese Studies in the Netherlands: Past, Present and Future|date=2013|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-26312-3|page=77}} The Belgian funds were earmarked to be spent on railway material in Belgium. Finally, Japan's indemnity was transferred to develop aviation in China under Japanese oversight.{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=154}} Once these countries' approximately 40 percent of the Boxer Indemnity was added to Germany's and Austria's combined 20.9 percent, the United States' 7.3 percent, and the Soviet Union's 29.0 percent share, the Beijing government had accounted for over 98 percent of the entire Boxer Indemnity. Hence, by 1927, Beijing had almost entirely revoked Boxer Indemnity payments abroad and successfully redirected the payments for use within China.{{harvnb|Elleman|1998|p=155}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category|Boxer Protocol}}

  • [http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%BE%9B%E4%B8%91%E6%A2%9D%E7%B4%84 Wikisource Xinchou treaty] {{in lang|zh}}
  • [http://www.100jia.net/china1900/ereignisse/boxerprotokoll.htm Text of Boxer Protocol, Peking 7. September 1901]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20060514183720/http://www.thecorner.org/hist/china/boxer.htm The Corner.org boxer protocol]

{{Sino-Russian treaties}}

{{Qing dynasty topics}}

Category:1901 in China

Category:Treaties concluded in 1901

Category:1901 documents

Category:September 1901

Category:Unequal treaties

Category:Boxer Rebellion

Category:Peace treaties of China

Category:Peace treaties of Japan

Category:Peace treaties of Germany

Category:Peace treaties of Italy

Category:Treaties of Belgium

Category:Peace treaties of Austria

Category:Peace treaties of Spain

Category:Peace treaties of the Netherlands

Category:Peace treaties of Russia

Category:Peace treaties of the United States

Category:Peace treaties of the United Kingdom

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Category:Treaties of the German Empire

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Category:Treaties of the Empire of Japan

Category:Treaties of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

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Category:Treaties of the Netherlands

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Category:History of Beijing