"The carnival of blood and fire" : responses to the Boxer Rebellion, a Canadian case study
Date
2002
Authors
Schau, Torben Mikkel
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Abstract
This thesis explores the shared image of ''the Chinese," as reflected in thirteen Anglophone Canadian newspapers' coverage of the Boxer Rebellion. Focusing on the portrayal of China and the Chinese people, the thesis examines both the common characteristics, and the particular regional, political and religious variations of that image. The common characteristics included irrationality, xenophobia, deceit and cruelty. The newspapers described Chinese customs as irrational and the people as xenophobic, but juxtaposed this approach by insisting that the Chinese were too inscrutable and alien to comprehend. The Qing government served as a focus for descriptions of Chinese deceit that ranged from treachery on the battlefield, through sanctioned assassinations, to the duplicity of the Qing in sponsoring the Boxers. False stories of Chinese cruelty towards Westerners overshadowed killings of Chinese Christians. The supposed storming of the foreign legations and the alleged torture and murder of the Russian ambassador provoked Wes tern outrage and stimulated the most overt forms of Canadian racialization of the Chinese. Worries over the potential threat of the Chinese, influenced by Yellow Peril ideology, pervaded many newspapers but others discredited such claims by denigrating Chinese manliness and military skill. Other newspapers saw China as fertile ground for the missionary project, and the Rebellion as an opportunity to secure better opportunities for converting the Chinese population. Together, these images contributed to a strong anti-Chinese ideology at the outset of the twentieth century.