The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic Story Of China's War On Foreigners That Shook The World In The Summer Of 1900

Relying on the diaries, letters and memoirs of the foreign defenders in the diplomatic district of Peking, and on her own extensive research from both Chinese and Western perspectives, Preston places readers squarely in the middle of events as they unfold during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

Chinese peasants chafed against the foreign technologies and ideas that the imperialists introduced. Then a new movement-mystical, materialistic, and virulently anti-Christian-began to spread among them like wildfire. The foreigners laughed at the peasants' martial-arts routines and nicknamed them "the Boxers"-never imagining that the group, with the backing of China's empress dowager, would soon terrorize the world. . . This acclaimed account of the Boxer Rebellion, by an Oxford-trained historian, is an important new addition to every shelf of high-quality, highly accessible history.