Boxer Protocol

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Boxer Protocol
China and the 11 countries' final agreement on compensation for the 1900 turmoil
Signature page of representatives of various countries on the Boxer Protocol settlement
TypeDiplomatic protocol, unequal treaty
SignedSeptember 7, 1901 (July 25, Year Guangxu 27)
LocationSpanish Embassy in Beijing
Signatories
Parties
DepositaryNational Palace Museum, Taipei City
LanguageChinese, French (authoritative)
Full text at Wikisource
Boxer Protocol
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The Boxer Protocol, also known as the Treaty of Xinchou, was the treaty signed on September 7, 1901, by the Qing Empire of China, the Eight-Nation Alliance (the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia, Germany, France, the United States, Italy and Japan), which had provided military troops to suppress the Boxer Uprising, and the kingdoms of Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

At first, Empress Cixi refused the Western demands and took refuge in Xi'an to organize resistance. Only thanks to the efforts of the Spanish minister Bernardo Cólogan y Cólogan, dean of the foreign diplomatic delegations, with whom the Empress's envoys were authorized to negotiate, could the treaty finally be drafted (mainly by Cólogan himself) and signed by both parties.

Although the treaty ended the rebellion, besides averting the almost certain destruction and occupation of the country, along with a veritable bloodbath, Chinese historiography regards it as one of the unequal treaties between China and the Western powers.

Negotiations during the rebellion

After the Allies took Peking, the Empress Dowager Cixi had moved to Xi'an, fleeing the Western troops. Many of Cixi's imperial advisers insisted that China continue fighting against the foreigners, arguing that China could defeat them and that the capture of Peking and Tianjin was due to disloyal subjects and traitors who had sold themselves to the Western powers.

In any case, the prospect of a war looked far from satisfactory for either side, regardless of the final outcome. The first attempts at negotiation were rejected by the Chinese side, which saw them as signs of Western arrogance that it was not willing to tolerate. In this way they cut off all diplomatic efforts at the root, which foreshadowed the worst of outcomes.

Bernardo Cólogan, who had previously been in China, where he had won the favor of the court in general and of the Empress in particular, managed to calm tempers and appeal to the pragmatism of the Chinese authorities, who finally decided that the proposed terms were now honorable enough to accept them and halt the conflict.[1][2] An extensive chronology of the negotiations is recorded in the book The Boxer Protocol and the Spanish Minister Bernardo Cólogan (El Protocolo Bóxer y el ministro español Bernardo Cólogan), by his descendant Carlos Cólogan Soriano, published with the collaboration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain, which is based on unpublished documentation from the family archive, including Bernardo Cólogan's personal album with handwritten annotations, photographs and signatures of the plenipotentiaries, rediscovered in Tenerife in 2015.[3]

Cólogan, in his capacity as dean of the diplomatic corps in Peking, presided over more than a hundred meetings between representatives of the eleven allied powers and the Chinese imperial envoys during the drafting of the treaty. His mediation made it possible to soften the harshest conditions initially proposed by some foreign powers, considered unacceptable by Empress Cixi, and finally to achieve the signing of the protocol on terms acceptable to both parties.[4] The final document was drafted and signed by Cólogan on September 7, 1901.[5] His intervention was recognized for its neutrality, given that Spain had no colonial aspirations in China, which fostered the imperial delegation's trust in his chairmanship.[6]

Cólogan's diplomatic album also documents tensions with the British representative Ernest Satow, to whom Cólogan initially refused to issue credentials because he did not present the complete documentation required by international diplomatic protocol.[7] It is believed that Satow, who at the last moment replaced the previous ambassador, may have been sent to try to lead the negotiations, but had he taken control, he might have hardened the clauses, prolonging Cixi's rejection. Cólogan documents these disagreements, stating that his role averted a greater "disaster".[8] Moreover, Spanish neutrality was more acceptable to the Qing court, which harbored strong resentment toward the powers involved in the Opium Wars and the unequal treaties, especially toward the United Kingdom.[9]

Signatories

The Boxer Protocol was signed on September 7, 1901, at the Spanish Legation in Peking[10] by:

Foreign powers

And the Qing dynasty, represented by:

  • His Excellency Li Hongzhang, Count Su-i of the First Rank, Tutor of the Heir to the Throne, Grand Secretary of the Wen Hua Tien, Minister of Commerce, Superintendent of the Northern Ports and Governor General of the Province of Chihli.
  • His Highness Yikuang, Prince Qing, president of the Grand Council.

Bernardo Cólogan formalized it with the following speech:

"Your Highness and Your Excellency: We have just signed a document of great importance, which restores relations of friendship between the foreign nations and the Chinese Empire. This act is the consequence of some extraordinary events that we wish will never be repeated. It is the wholly sincere wish of my illustrious colleagues, and my own, that, in the course of time, these events be sealed with the past. Thanks to respect for the good faith of the different clauses of this protocol. It is in this way that China will demonstrate its sincere intentions to cultivate the best international relations, and it is also in this way that the Protocol will be able to bear the fruits of good and cordial friendship in the future."

Clauses of the protocol

Signing of the Boxer Protocol. From left to right: F. M. Knobel of the Netherlands (only his hands are visible); K. Jutaro of Japan; G. S. Raggi of Italy; Joostens of Belgium; C. von Walhborn of Austria-Hungary; B. J. Cologán of Spain; M. von Giers of Russia; A. Mumm of the German Empire; E. M. Satow of the United Kingdom; W. W. Rockhill of the United States; P. Beau of France; I-Kuang; Li Hongzhang; Prince Qing

China accepted indemnities worth 450 million taels of silver (around 333 million dollars at the exchange rate of the time), payable over 39 years to the eight allied nations.[11]

China paid the indemnity in gold and foreign currency at 4% interest until the debt was paid off on December 31, 1940. China therefore paid around 1 billion taels.[11]

The indemnity was distributed among the powers as follows: Russia 28.97%, Germany 20.02%, France 15.75%, United Kingdom 11.25%, Japan 7.73%, United States 7.32%, Italy 7.32%, Belgium 1.89%, Austria-Hungary 0.89%, Netherlands 0.17%, Spain 0.03%, Portugal 0.021%, Sweden and Norway 0.014%.[12]

Other clauses

  • The import of arms and ammunition, as well as war materials, was prohibited for a period of 2 years, extendable by another two if the Western powers so deemed.
  • The dismantling of the Taku Forts, at the mouth of the Hai River, strategic for access to Peking by ship, was ordered.[13]
  • The Peking Legation Quarter would acquire a special status, reserved for the exclusive use and control of the foreign powers, with extraterritoriality, and the express prohibition of Chinese subjects residing in it. China recognized the right of the foreign powers to maintain armed troops within the quarter.
  • Officials and Boxers would be punished for crimes against foreign Governments or their citizens. Many were sentenced to execution, deportation to Turkestan, life imprisonment, suicide, or posthumous degradation.
  • The Zongli Yamen, the foreign affairs office, was abolished and replaced by a Ministry of Foreign Affairs with exclusive powers and a rank higher than that of any organ of the Qing Government.
  • The Qing government would prohibit, under penalty of death, membership by any of its subjects in a society or group with an anti-foreign agenda.
  • The examinations for mandarins were suspended for 5 years in all areas where foreigners had been attacked or treated cruelly.
  • Local officials and mandarins would be held personally responsible for any incident against foreigners.
  • The Emperor of China would officially apologize to the Kaiser for the death of Baron Klemens von Ketteler.
  • The Emperor of China would appoint Na't'ung as his Envoy Extraordinary to the Emperor of Japan, expressing his apologies and condemnation for the murder of Mr. Sugiyama.
  • The Qing government would erect at the site of Baron Von Ketteler's murder a memorial arch inscribed in Latin, German and Chinese.
  • The Qing government would permit the stationing of foreign troops in the following places:[14]
Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Pinyin Transliteration prior to the Pinyin system
黃村 黄村 Huangcun Huang-tsun
郎坊（廊坊） 郎坊(廊坊) Langfang Lang-fang
楊村 杨村 Yangcun Yang-tsun
天津 天津 Tianjin Tien-tsin
軍糧城 军粮城 Junliangcheng Chun-liang-Cheng
塘沽 塘沽 Tanggu Tong-ku
蘆臺 芦台 Lutai Lu-tai
唐山 唐山 Tangshan Tong-shan
灤州 滦州 Luanzhou Lan-chou
昌黎 昌黎 Changli Chang-li
秦皇島 秦皇岛 Qinhuangdao Chin-wang Tao
山海關 山海关 Shanhaiguan Shan-hai Kuan

Spurious demands

The apostolic vicar Alfons Bermyn wanted foreign troops stationed in Inner Mongolia, but the Governor of Mongolia refused. Bermyn resorted to lies to falsely request that the mandarin Enming send troops to Hetao, claiming that the Mongol troops of Prince Duan and the Muslim troops of General Dong Fuxiang were threatening the Catholics.[15][16] One of the false reports produced by Bermyn claimed that Dong Fuxiang had exterminated Belgian missionaries in Mongolia and that he was going to massacre the Catholics of Taiyuan.[17][18]

Demands rejected by China

The Qing did not accept all the foreign demands. The Manchu governor Yuxian was executed, but the Imperial Court refused to execute General Dong Fuxiang, although both were anti-foreign and had helped the Boxer rebels.[19] Instead, General Dong Fuxiang was "exiled" to his native province, Gansu, where he lived with every luxury and authority.[20][21]

The Qing also refused to exile Prince Zaiyi to Sinkiang. Instead, they sent him to Alashan, west of Ningxia, where he lived in the residence of a local Mongol Prince. Later he had to flee Ningxia during the Xinhai Revolution when the Muslims took the province, and he ended his days in Sinkiang with Sheng Yun.[22] Prince Duan "went no farther than Manchuria for his exile, and was heard of there in 1908".[23]

Consequences

The United States devoted its share of the war indemnity, $11,961,121.76, to the creation of an educational program for Chinese students in the United States. In order to prepare them for admission to an American university, it decided to create a preparatory school in Peking that quickly gave rise to Tsinghua University in Peking, one of the most prestigious in China.[24][25]

When China declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1917, it halted the Boxer indemnity payments to them (20% of the total). At the Paris Conference of 1919, Peking succeeded in completely revoking its obligations to both nations.[26]

References

  1. ↑ Preston, Diana (2000). The Boxer Rebellion: the dramatic story of China's war on foreigners that shook the world in the summer of 1900. U.S.: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 312. ISBN 9780802713612. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Bernardo Jacinto de Cólogan y Cólogan" in the Diccionario biográfico español of the Royal Academy of History.
  3. ↑ Cólogan Soriano, Carlos (2015). El Protocolo Bóxer y el ministro español Bernardo Cólogan (in español). Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación. ISBN 978-84-8347-268-2.
  4. ↑ "Las negociaciones del Protocolo Bóxer: diplomacia y reparación en la China de 1901" (PDF). Anuario de Estudios de China Contemporánea (in español). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 2022.
  5. ↑ "Protocolo Bóxer". Spanish Wikipedia (in español). Retrieved October 14, 2025.
  6. ↑ "El diplomático tinerfeño que redactó el tratado que puso fin a la rebelión de los bóxers". La Opinión de Málaga (in español). September 21, 2015.
  7. ↑ Cólogan Soriano, Carlos (2015). El Protocolo Bóxer y el ministro español Bernardo Cólogan (in español). Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación. ISBN 978-84-8347-268-2.
  8. ↑ "Bernardo Cólogan, el canario que evitó un desastre diplomático en China". La Provincia (in español). September 21, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Las negociaciones del Protocolo Bóxer: diplomacia y reparación en la China de 1901" (PDF). Anuario de Estudios de China Contemporánea (in español). UNAM. 2022.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cólogan y González-Massieu, Jorge (2008). "El papel de España en la Revolución de los Boxers de 1900: Un capítulo olvidado en la historia de las relaciones diplomáticas". Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia (in español). 205 (3). La Academia: 493. OCLC 423747062.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Spence, Jonathan D. (1991). The Search for Modern China (1st ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 0393307808.
  12. ↑ Ji, Zhaojin (2003). A History of Modern Shanghai Banking. M. E. Sharpe (published March 2003). p. 75. ISBN 9780765610027. OL 8054799M.
  13. ↑ Sondhaus, Lawrence (2001). Naval warfare, 1815-1914. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415214773.
  14. ↑ Pamphlets on the Chinese-Japanese War, 1939–1945 [published in 1937], and Sino-Japanese Conflict, 1937—45 (digitized on May 30, 2007. No ISBN).
  15. ↑ Heylen, Ann (2004). Chronique du Toumet-Ortos: looking through the lens of Joseph Van Oost, missionary in Inner Mongolia (1915–1921). Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press. p. 203. ISBN 90-5867-418-5. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  16. ↑ Taveirne, Patrick (2004). Han-Mongol encounters and missionary endeavors: a history of Scheut in Ordos (Hetao) 1874–1911. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press. p. 539. ISBN 90-5867-365-0. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  17. ↑ Edwards, E. H. (1903). Fire and sword in Shansi: the story of the martyrdom of foreigners and Chinese Christians. New York: Revell. p. 167. OL 13518958M.
  18. ↑ Hart, Robert; Campbell, James Duncan (1975). Fairbank, John King; Bruner, Katherine Frost; Matheson, Elizabeth MacLeod (eds.). The I. G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart, Chinese Maritime Customs, 1868-1907. Harvard University Press. p. 1271. ISBN 0674443209. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  19. ↑ Haw, Stephen G. (2007). Beijing: a concise history. Routledge. p. 98. ISBN 0-415-39906-8. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  20. ↑ Hastings, James; Selbie, John Alexander; Gray, Louis Herbert, eds. (1915). Encyclopædia of religion and ethics. Vol. 8. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. p. 894. OCLC 3065458.
  21. ↑ Houtsma, M. Th. and Wensinck, A. J. (1993). E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936. Stanford BRILL. p. 850. ISBN 90-04-09796-1. Retrieved June 28, 2010.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ↑ Teichman, Eric (1921). Travels Of A Consular Officer In North-West China. Cambridge: CUP Archive. p. 188. OCLC 2585746. OL 14046010M.
  23. ↑ Clements, Paul Henry (1915). The Boxer Rebellion: A Political and Diplomatic Review. Columbia University. p. 201. OL 24661390M.
  24. ↑ Elleman, Bruce A. (1998). Diplomacy and deception: the secret history of Sino-Soviet diplomatic relations, 1917-1927. Armonk (N.Y.): M. E. Sharpe. p. 144. ISBN 0765601435. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  25. ↑ "Liang Cheng, The "Diplomatic Hero"". Cultural China. Shanghai News and Press Bureau. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  26. ↑ Elleman 1998, p. 145
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