CALAMITY DURING THE BOXER UPRISING THAT LINGERS TODAY
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NEW RESEARCH SHEDS LIGHT ON WESTERN RESPONSIBILITY FOR A CALAMITY DURING THE BOXER UPRISING THAT LINGERS TODAY
For 60 days in mid-1900 the Western government diplomatic offices in Beijing came under siege by the Qing government and forces of the Boxer Uprising. During the siege, the Hanlin academy library, China's largest repository of national bibliographical treasures representing centuries of cultural accumulation, was burned and pillaged, as over 2,000 allied forces from Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary gunned their way into Beijing in defense of their embassies.
The siege ended August 14 with the entry of the allied troops, and the Hanlin academy library soon became a forgotten casualty of the rebellion. In its waning years, the Qing Dynasty established a national library that developed further with the coming of the republic in 1912. That institution, known by various names, initiated an effort to recover as many volumes from the Hanlin collection as possible.
For example, over 370 volumes, or about 810 sections (chuan) of the more than 11,000 volumes of the great 15th-century encyclopedia, the Yong Lo Da Dian, have been accounted for in China and elsewhere. After World War II, the Soviet Union returned 64 volumes from various repositories; East Germany returned three volumes in 1955. By 1959 the National Library of China possessed just 216 volumes from the original collection. The 41 volumes in the United States at the Library of Congress have never been returned.
Chinese authorities have photocopied the 154 known remaining exemplars of the collection that are not in China. Two projects have begun publishing the extant works: Zhong Hua Shu Ju (Chinese Press) has published 797 sections since 1959; the Taiwanese published 742 sections of the collection in 100 volumes in 1962.
How many more volumes from this unique collection exist in European, American, or Japanese research libraries or in private hands? How many souvenir volumes were carried home by soldiers or escaping diplomats in 1900 and hidden away in attic trunks? No one knows; some could yet appear. Although most accounts of the library's destruction are vague and evasive, eyewitness reports leave little doubt that what was once the largest library in China was looted by Westerners.
For 60 days in mid-1900 the Western government diplomatic offices in Beijing came under siege by the Qing government and forces of the Boxer Uprising. During the siege, the Hanlin academy library, China's largest repository of national bibliographical treasures representing centuries of cultural accumulation, was burned and pillaged, as over 2,000 allied forces from Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary gunned their way into Beijing in defense of their embassies.
The siege ended August 14 with the entry of the allied troops, and the Hanlin academy library soon became a forgotten casualty of the rebellion. In its waning years, the Qing Dynasty established a national library that developed further with the coming of the republic in 1912. That institution, known by various names, initiated an effort to recover as many volumes from the Hanlin collection as possible.
For example, over 370 volumes, or about 810 sections (chuan) of the more than 11,000 volumes of the great 15th-century encyclopedia, the Yong Lo Da Dian, have been accounted for in China and elsewhere. After World War II, the Soviet Union returned 64 volumes from various repositories; East Germany returned three volumes in 1955. By 1959 the National Library of China possessed just 216 volumes from the original collection. The 41 volumes in the United States at the Library of Congress have never been returned.
Chinese authorities have photocopied the 154 known remaining exemplars of the collection that are not in China. Two projects have begun publishing the extant works: Zhong Hua Shu Ju (Chinese Press) has published 797 sections since 1959; the Taiwanese published 742 sections of the collection in 100 volumes in 1962.
How many more volumes from this unique collection exist in European, American, or Japanese research libraries or in private hands? How many souvenir volumes were carried home by soldiers or escaping diplomats in 1900 and hidden away in attic trunks? No one knows; some could yet appear. Although most accounts of the library's destruction are vague and evasive, eyewitness reports leave little doubt that what was once the largest library in China was looted by Westerners.
Boxer Uprising and Western interests
The destruction and dispersal of the contents of the Hanlin academy library began with the siege of the allied quarters by the Boxers, known in China as the Yihetuan Movement. The siege was the result of mounting tension between the Chinese people and government on one side and the Western powers with their commercial, military, and religious aspirations on the other.
Shandong province, which had seen perhaps the greatest degree of recent encroachment by Western powers, was the base of a revived popular movement against foreigners, missionaries in particular, and most of all Chinese who had adopted Christianity. Beginning in 1898 the "Fists United in Righteousness," as they called themselves - or "Boxers," as they were known in the West - drew upon secret-society and magical rites.
Claiming to be invulnerable to bullets and swords and believing in folk mythologies that involved religion and street rituals, the Boxers called for the revocation of special privileges enjoyed by Chinese and European Christians. By 1899 they had begun to destroy property and kill converts as well as foreigners in Shandong and Hebei provinces.
The Western powers were shocked by the Boxer Uprising but saw in the crisis an opportunity to extend their influence and ensure their security. They looked to the Qing government to quell the Yihetuan Movement while they prepared their own forces to take action.
On May 31 more than 400 men of the allied forces entered Beijing, ostensibly to protect the embassies, or "legations," as they were called. …
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