Was the “Open Door Policy” of 1900 - 1910 Beneficial to China?

Defying the Will of the Chinese People

Boxers
                                                                                                                                    Koekkoek, Johannes. Boxers Drawing. Circa 1900. Le Figaro, Hors-Serie "Pekin". Wikimedia Commons Library.
                                                                                                                                        <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/BoxersDrawingByKoekkoek1900.jpg>.

    With the enforcement of the “open door policy” by the beginning of the twentieth century, an increase in social discontent occurred because China was now open for all trade powers to have economic opportunity and access to their market. Among the angry population it was primarily the pro-traditionalist leaders and the peasantry classes that held the most disdain for the Europeans (Tignor 310). Throughout this period of economic “hegemony” (Abu-Lughod and Life) where Western nations are using political and military means of forcing China to keep its trade open and available to all who wish to partake in the Far East trade, there were also missionaries being sent over to convert the Chinese to Christianity (Tignor 315). The emperor Guangxu of the Qing dynasty at this time was a pro-modernist who tried to enforce the “Hundred Days Reform” in 1898 in response to the “open door policy” to try to Westernize some of China’s political and economic aspects, but the Empress Dowager Cixi placed a house arrest on him and ruled alongside the eunuchs from the Forbidden City (Overfield 22). Cixi took an anti-foreign traditionalist stance and used the Boxers to her advantage, supporting the movement of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists that was to follow in 1899 (Boxer).
    The Righteous and Harmonious Fists were a group that the Westerners referred to as the “Boxers” because they were well trained in martial arts; these troops led the Boxer Rebellion in 1899 (Overfield 22). The rebellion started in Shandong and was a direct response to the “open door policy” and also the Western Christianizing of China (Tignor 316). The “Boxers” had a set of proclamations explaining the evils of the foreigners and how it was the up to them to eradicate them from China. A small excerpt from their proclamations goes as follows:
                    The Gods assist the Boxers,
                    The Patriotic Harmonious corps,
                    It is because the “Foreign Devils” disturb the “Middle Kingdom.”
                    Urging the people to join their religion,
                    To turn their backs on Heaven,
                    Venerate not the Gods and forget the ancestors. (Two)
Essentially the main meaning of this excerpt is that the internal and external troubles of China is due to the presence of the multiple European, U.S., and Japanese powers in their country whom they refer to as devils. There is reference to the disdain held by the Chinese because of the foreign missionaries trying to impose religious ideologies and have the Chinese forget their customs and traditions of honoring their Gods and ancestors.
    What rallied the Boxers to be the fearless and seemingly impenetrable force that they were was the belief that they had a just and divine mission and that they were assisted by their Gods to be an invincible force that could disperse any foreign powers from China. One of the Boxers mottos during the rebellion was actually “Support the Qing, destroy the foreign” (Tignor 316). Here is another excerpt from their proclamations explaining their strategy to victory:
                    The Gods come out from grottoes,
                    The Genii come down from mountains,
                    Support the human bodies to practice the boxing.
                    When all the military accomplishments or tactics
                    Are fully learned,
                    It will not be difficult to exterminate the “Foreign Devils” then. (Two)
This bit of the proclamation describes how the Chinese Gods will give them special abilities to learn the “yikequan” style of martial arts which was a form of “magic” boxing according to Chinese belief (Overfield 24). The Boxer army comprised of only male fighters, however as part of the rebellion there was also a female troop called the Red Lanterns that also opposed foreign intrusion upon China. This group consisted of women who were believed to have magical abilities such as flight or walking on water. They represented purity and were there for the purpose of counteracting any female Christians or missionaries and protecting the Boxers from ‘falling’ for them (Tignor 316). This showed a unification of not only the lower and working classes with the pro-traditionalist leaders, but also a unification of gender to fight together for a single cause - to eradicate the foreigners. However, the way the rebellion was put down was what really had hurt China the most.
    With any rebellion promoting a violent way to meet ends, it is to be expected there are casualties. By 1900 the Qing government had officially vocalized support for the Boxer Rebellion, which in essence was an indirect declaration of war on the foreign powers of whom their missionaries and diplomats were being slaughtered and laid siege to in their embassies by the Boxers. (Secretary) The rebellion took a few hundred lives of foreign missionaries but had a larger impact on the Chinese population, killing thousands of nationals (Secretary). The casualties on the Chinese side was so great because when the rebellion had broken out on a full scale, a foreign army consisting of “20,000 troops belonging to Japan, Russia, Europe, and the U.S.” fought and claimed victory over the Boxers, forcing the Qing government to sign the Boxer Protocol in 1901 (Tignor 317).
    The Boxer Protocol was a peace treaty the Qing government signed to signify the ending of the war between China and the foreigners and resulted in a humiliating defeat for them. Some of the requirements of the treaty was to have to pay war reparations and an indemnity of $333 million to the nations involved in the crossfire of the rebellion, further worsening China’s economic situation (Secretary). Another requirement was to have Western troops permanently stationed in Beijing near the foreign embassies to ensure nothing of the nature would happen again (Tignor 317). Lastly, the Qing government had to agree to a revamped version of the “open door policy” known as the “new policy” which essentially gave foreign powers larger spheres of influence that originally began in trade port cities, but now stretched further into China’s inner area (Tignor 317 and Secretary). By this point China was so indebted financially to the foreign powers and had no other choice but to meet their demands in its politically and financially weakened state, comparable to the latter twentieth century situation with economic “hegemony” of Jamaica and U.S. / British capitalist involvement (Abu-Lughod and Life).
    After China’s reaction to foreign involvement by trying a rebellion, continued Western involvement with the “open door policy” seemed unjust and even barbaric to the Chinese. Once the government had given into the foreigner’s demands, greater anti-foreign sentiment and now anti-Qing sentiment developed (Tignor 317). After this atrocity, it is quite clear that the “open door policy” was definitely a policy out of U.S. interest in disregard to what was good for China and its people.