Collection context
Summary
- Extent:
- .4 linear feet (1 document box)
- Language:
- English.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Two photo albums, the first mainly of handcolored scenes in Japan and the second mainly of the Peking area of China around the time of the Boxer Rebellion and the China Relief Expedition, with numerous pictures of European and American soldiers, ca. 1900-1901.
- Biographical / historical:
-
In Japan, the onetime fishing village of Yokohama was a traditional site of foreign settlements. By the turn of the century, Yokohama had become an important port city. It served as a center for official Japanese-foreign contacts and also handled much of Japan's export trade.
A popular movement that developed in North China, the Boxer Rebellion was directed against both Manchu and foreigners, especially missionaries. The Boxers (from the Chinese Yihequan (I-ho-ch'üan), or "Fists of Righteous Indignation") began to organize as a secret society to oppose extortion by local officials of the Manchu dynasty. Members grew more militant and more antiforeign until, by spring 1900, Boxer groups drifted toward Beijing (Peking), attacking Chinese Christians and European citizens. The Boxers then began what was to be a fifty-five day siege of foreign legations in Peking. The end of this uprising was both swift and tragic. On August 4, 1900, a combined column of foreign expeditionary forces started to fight their way to Beijing. The foreign relief force arrived in Beijing on August 14, 1900. The forces razed the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the empress Cixi's (Tz'u-hsi) villas in the Fragrant Hills west of the city.
The Boxer Protocol that officially marked the end of the uprising was signed by officials of the Chinese government and the representatives of some eleven foreign powers on September 7, 1901.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchase.
- Physical location:
- Del Sur
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
UC Santa Barbara LibrarySanta Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
- Contact:
- (805) 893-3062