Battle of Peking (1900) - Occupation

Occupation

Peking was a battered city after the siege. The Boxers had begun the destruction, destroying all Christian churches and homes and starting fires that burned throughout the city. The Chinese artillery aimed at the Legation Quarter and Peitang during the siege had destroyed nearby neighborhoods. Unburied bodies littered the deserted streets. The foreign armies divided Peking into districts. Each district was administered by one of the occupying armies.

The occupation of Peking became, in the words of an American journalist, "the biggest looting expedition since Pizarro". Each nationality accused the others of being the worst looters. Missionary Luella Miner said, "The conduct of the Russian soldiers is atrocious, the French are not much better, and the Japanese are looting and burning without mercy". The British held "loot auctions" every afternoon except Sunday at their Legation. Nor were the American soldiers free of guilt, although Gen. Chaffee banned looting. "Our rule against is totally ineffectual", said an American chaplain.

The civilians and missionaries who had been besieged were some of the most successful looters, as they were familiar with Peking. Some of the looting could be justified. Missionaries such as the Catholic Bishop Favier and American Congregationalist William Scott Ament had hundreds of starving Chinese Christians to care for and needed food and clothing. However, looting for necessities quickly became looting for profit, widely publicized by journalists—many indulged in looting on their own while condemning it by others. The Chinese in Peking also indulged in looting and set up markets to sell the proceeds of their efforts.

The foreign powers in Peking sent out punitive missions to the countryside to capture or kill suspected Boxers. There was much indisciminate killing by the foreign troops. American Gen. Chaffee said, "It is safe to say that where one real Boxer has been killed since the capture of Peking, fifty harmless coolies or laborers on the farms, including not a few women and children, have been slain." Most of the punitive missions were by the French and Germans.

A peace agreement was concluded between the Eight-Nation Alliance and representatives of the Chinese government Li Hung-chang and Prince Ching on 7 September 1901. The treaty required China to pay an indemnity of $335 million (over $4 billion in current dollars) plus interest over a period of 39 years. Also required was the execution or exile of government supporters of the Boxers and the destruction of Chinese forts and other defenses in much of northern China. Ten days after the treaty was signed the foreign armies left Peking, although legation guards would remain there until World War II.

With the treaty signed the Empress Dowager Cixi returned to Peking from her "tour of inspection" on 7 January 1902 and the rule of the Qing dynasty over China was restored, albeit much weakened by the defeat it had suffered in the Boxer Rebellion and by the indemnity and stipulations of the peace treaty. The Dowager died in 1908 and the dynasty imploded in 1911.