UCLA Center for East
Asian Studies
Today in Asian History
June 13
1900
"Boxer" forces entered Beijing planning to expel foreigners. The
Yihetuan movement was born in Shandong province on the North China Plain and
arouse out of peasant anger at economic hardship and the intrusion of
foreigners, especially foreign missionaries, into China. Members of the
Yihetuan sect practiced martial arts, promoted their beliefs in village
performances, and told people that eradicating the foreigners would end the
economic hardships they endured. Yihetuan
forces entered Beijing and laid seige to its foreign legations and churches.
The seige lasted nearly two months and ended when an eight nation army
(including U.S. Marines) fought its way into Beijing and crushed the
Yihetuan forces. Many foreigners condemned the xenophobia of the Yihetuan
and the Chinese government's failure to protect foreign missions. There were
those, however, who acknowledged that foreigners, including missionaries,
had sometimes earned the hostility of the Chinese by intruding into their
affairs: "... The missionary has had his share in
fomenting this trouble and must bear his share of the blame. Some of the
missionaries have been politicians as well as Christians, and their
grasping, selfish attitude has helped to bring about the present condition
..." Dr. A Woodruff Halsey, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of
Foreign Missions, quoted in the New York Times, July 23, 1900 The invading powers signed a protocol with the Chinese government on
September 7, 1901. It allowed an increase in foreign troops in the
Beijing-Tianjin area and required the Chinese to pay a large indemnity of
$333 million. The Yale
Divinity School Library staged an exhibition on the centennial of the
Yihetuan uprising. The PBS program on America
1900 included an interview with historian Walter LaFeber on the
rebellion. Paul Halsall's Modern History Sourcebook includes Yao
Chenyuan's "My
Adventures During the Boxer War," Fei Qihao's essay
on the uprising, and Piere Loti's memoir of "When
the Allies Entered Peking" (Beijing). 1964
The
Chinese government protested the bombing of their economic and cultural
office in Laos. 1967
Second secretary of the Indian embassy in Beijing, K. Raghunath, was placed
on trial in Beijing. He was convicted of espionage and, with another Indian
diplomat, was expelled. 1971
The New York Times began publishing the "Pentagon Papers"
in installments. The documents detailed how the United States became
involved in the Vietnam War. The U.S. government sued to block publication,
but U.S. District Judge Murray Gurfein ruled: "National security lies
not at the ramparts alone, but lies also in the value of our free
institutions." Chapter
1 of the Gravel edition of the Papers is available online. In
1997 the magazine Vietnam
published an article on the Papers. The U.S.
State Department even devotes a page to the case. Chapter 1 of David
Rudenstine's The
Day the Presses Stopped is available from the Washington Post. 2000 South Korean
President Kim Dae Jung made an unprecedented visit to North Korea and met
with its leader Kim Jong Il. The Allied Powers decided to divide Korea,
annexed by Japan in 1910, into two occupation zones. The division, along the
38th parallel was to last five years. Soviet forces occupied the North and
American forces occupied the South. In 1948 governments were set up in both
the North and the South and in June 1950 war broke out between the two. A
truce halted the fighting in 1953, but the Korean peninsula remains divided
and the two sides are technically still at war. Since his election in December 1997 Kim Dae Jung
had promoted a "sunshine" policy towards the North. Kim Jong Il
had risen under his father Kim Il Sung to position of authority and when his
father died in 1994, Kim Jung Il became leader in fact, though titles such
as general secretary of the Korean Workers Party were not formally bestowed
on him for several years. No anthems were played nor flags waved at the
initial airport meeting. The Korean
Central News Agency offers the views of the government of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). The Korean
Information Service does the same for the Republic of Korea (South
Korea). The PBS program Newshour
offers extensive reporting about the event and its contribution to
reducing tensions on the peninsula. Later in 2000, Kim Dae Jung was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end hostilities in Korea.
Click here
to see news reports of the award. The U.S. Library of Congress country studies on North
Korea and South
Korea offer useful historical background. The U.S. CIA World Factbook
offers more current economic and demographic data on North
Korea and South
Korea. The AI "Today in Asian History" page is compiled by
Clayton Dube.
He welcomes your comments and suggestions. Copyright
1998-2001 by the UCLA Asia Institute.
Search
the Asia Institute website (including the Today in Asian History pages).
Teaching and Research about Asia
