“Who were the Boxers?” “Beware—you have asked a history major. Alright. The Opium Wars left China humiliated and helpless before Western imperialists. Our rulers wanted to rid China of all foreigners. The empress dowager claimed the spirits were angry because of the foreign religion—Christianity—and the disloyalty of Chinese Christians who did not pay temple taxes or worship ancestors. There were mystics who looked back to China’s golden days and believed that martial arts—Chinese boxing—could ward off Western bullets. Under the influence of drugs and under the spell of Mogui, young peasant
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