The Battle of Senluo Temple was a clash between members of the " Militia United in Righteousness" (; better known as the "Boxers") and

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

government troops that took place on October 18, 1899, near a temple located on the western edge of Pingyuan County in northwestern

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...

. The Boxers were armed with swords, spears and a few hunting rifles. In a first skirmish they inflicted a few casualties on Qing troops and forced them to retreat, but the Qing army won the battle in a counterattack during which at least 27 Boxers were killed. After the Shandong authorities caught and executed the Boxer leaders in the following months, the Boxer movement died off in the immediate area, partly because local peasants could see that the Boxers' invulnerability rituals did not work. However, thanks to its non-centralized organization and driven by widespread support for its anti-Christian activities, the Boxer movement continued to spread quickly, culminating in the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an Xenophobia, anti-foreign, anti-colonialism, anti-colonial, and Persecution of Christians#China, anti-Christian uprising in China ...

that engulfed northern China in the spring and summer of 1900. The Battle of Senluo Temple was a "watershed" in the history of the Boxer movement and marked its "final maturation." For the first time, the Boxers called themselves the "Militia United in Righteousness" instead of "Boxers r "Fists": 拳, United in Righteousness," hoping to use their new name to distance themselves from proscribed martial arts sects and to give themselves the legitimacy of a group that defended orthodoxy. The battle was also the first time the Boxers' slogan of "Support the Qing, destroy the foreign" ()--by which they announced their intention to support the reigning dynasty and get rid of foreign influence--gained prominence. Finally, the clash attracted the support of influential officials and

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) an ...

princes at the imperial court, who started to see the Boxers as possible allies against the increased

imperialist Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power ( economic and ...

activities that had been triggered by the

Juye Incident The Juye Incident (, german: Juye Vorfall) refers to the killing of two German Catholic missionaries, Richard Henle and Franz Xaver Nies, of the Society of the Divine Word, in Juye County Shandong Province, China in the night of 1–2 Novemb ...

two years earlier., pp. 268-70.

Notes

Bibliography

*. *. *. *. {{coord missing, Shandong 1899 in China Senluo Temple Senluo Temple Senluo Temple October 1899 events