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First Protestant Christian missionary arrives in China from London Missionary Society
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Daoguang Emperor expels missionaries for distributing Christian books
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Britain imposed unequal treaty on China and takes Hong Kong
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Western Christian missionaries flood into China
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Treaty of Nanjing provides extraterritorial rights to all foreigners in China - they are no longer subject to Chinese law
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Christian convert Hong Xiuquan leads bloody Taiping Rebellion against Qing Dynasty
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ritain and France defeat China and impose harsh Treaties of Tientsin
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Former tributary Japan defeats China and takes Korea
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Drought followed by flooding strikes Shandong, causing wide-spread misery
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Juye Incident, armed men kill two Germans at missionary home in Shandong Province, northern China
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Young men in Shandong form Righteous Fist groups, practicing martial arts and traditional spiritualism
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Emperor Guangxu tries to quickly modernize China
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On the verge of handing over sovereignty to Japan, Guangxu is stopped and goes into internal exile. Empress Dowager Cixi rules in his name
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Boxers attack Liyuantun village's Catholic church, converted from a temple to the Jade Emperor
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Empress Dowager Cixi rescinds condemnation of Boxers, issues letter of support
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Boxers storm through countryside, burning churches, killing missionaries and converts
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British Minister Claude MacDonald requests defense force for Beijing foreign legations; Chinese allow 400 troops from eight nations into capital
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Boxers cut railroad line at Tianjin, isolating Beijing
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First Boxer appears in Beijing's Legation (diplomatic) Quarter
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Pro-Boxer General Dong Fuxian's troops kill Japanese diplomat Sugiyama Akira
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German Minister Clemens von Ketteler arrests and summarily executes a young boy he suspects of being a Boxer
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Thousands of angry Boxers storm Beijing and burn Christian churches in response to boy's murder
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Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu hold council meeting, decide to fully support Boxers
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Qing government sends messengers to offer foreign legation members safe passage out of Beijing; instead, the foreigners shoot the messengers dead
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Manchu Bannerman Captain En Hai kills Minister von Ketteler in a melee to avenge the murdered "Boxer" boy
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Boxers and Chinese Imperial Army besiege legations sheltering 473 foreign civilians, 400 foreign soldiers, and approximately 3,000 Chinese Christians
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Empress Dowager Cixi declares war against the foreign powers
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Chinese set fire to parts of Legation district; priceless Hanlin Academy library burns
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Chinese force Germans from position atop "Tartar Wall" overlooking legations, but Americans hold position
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56 US, British, and Russian soldiers on Tartar Wall launch a 2 am surprise attack, killing 20 Chinese soldiers and drive survivors from wall
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Outside of Beijing; Shanxi Province governor executes 44 missionary families (men, women, and children) after offering them asylum at Taiyuan. Victims of the "Taiyuan Massacre" become martyrs in eyes of Chinese Christians
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120 km (75 miles) outside Beijing, the Battle of Tientsin (Tianjin); The Eight-Nations relief force besieges Boxer-held city, resullting in 550 Boxers and 250 foreigners killed. Foreign troops (especially Germans and Russians) rampage through city afterward, looting, raping and killing civilians, while Japanese and Americans try to restrain them
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In Beijing, Chinese set off a mine under French Legation, force French and Austrians to shelter in British compound
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Advancing Chinese drive Japanese and Italian troops to a precarious last defense line at Prince Su's palace
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Australian journalist George Morrison injured and British Captain Strouts killed by Chinese snipers
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London Daily Mail publishes a report that all legation besieged had been massacred, including mercy killing of women and children, Russians boiled to death in oil, etc. Story was false, fabricated by reporter in Shanghai
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Eight-Nations relief force lands on the coast and begins march to Beijing
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Qing government declares cease-fire on legations
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Chinese end cease-fire, bombard legations as foreign "rescue" force approaches capital
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Relief force lifts the siege on legations, but forgets to relieve a besieged Catholic North Cathedral until August 16
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Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu escape Forbidden City dressed as peasants, go on "inspection tour" to the ancient capital of Xi'an (formerly Chang'an) in Shaanxi Province
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Qing officials sign "Boxer Protocol," agreeing to pay huge war reparations over 40 years
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Russian troops seize Jilin and occupy Manchuria, moves that will spark 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War
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Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu return to Beijing from Xi'an and resume control of government
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Empress Dowager Cixi abolishes imperial examination system for training bureaucrats in favor of western-style university system, part of an attempt at sweeping modernization
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Emperor Guangxu dies of arsenic poisoning, followed the next day by Empress Dowager Cixi
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Qing Dynasty falls to Sun Yat-sen; formal abdication by Last Emperor Puyi