“Bloodlust Barbarians and Riotous Hordes”: Boxers, the American Press, and U.S. Imperialism in China

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2019
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Bailey, Peyton Levi
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Reiss, Suzanna
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History
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Scholarship on early US-China foreign policy primarily focuses on the economic aspects of the relationship such as the Open-Door Policy and the various 19th century Western treaties that secured trade rights for the United States following major conflicts in China such as the First Opium War and the Arrow War. While these elements are significant for the understanding of US-China relations, one impactful event is often overlooked, the American intervention during the Boxer Rebellion. This analysis focuses on how the American press was used as a tool to promote a representative narrative of the Boxers that justified the U.S. military in China. This decision represented a turning point in US-China relations, but was additionally a part of a larger foreign policy shift in the Pacific, primarily in the Philippines. The cultural study of American intervention during the Boxer Rebellion demonstrates how the promotion of a “noble cause” in China persuaded and justified the decision to intervene to American readers. This military action not only impacted China’s domestic situation, but also had a lasting effect on US-China relations until the Communist victory in 1949.
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American history, Asian history, Military history, Boxer Rebellion, Imperialism, Modern China, U.S. Foreign Relations
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99 pages
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