The Boxers deserve a bad reputation. The Boxers brutally killed foreigners, Christians, and many innocent villagers that had nothing to do with the situation. The Boxers also were unreasonable in many ways and overreacting. According to the Newsela article “What was the Boxer Rebellion?” 230 foreigners, 30,000 Chinese Christians, and 100,000 Chinese civilians were killed by the Boxers. A firsthand account of a peaceful missionary in Shansi states, “It was not long before the Boxers, like a pestilence, had spread all over Shansi…the feeling of alarm deepened,” (Fei). This shows how much the Boxers affected innocent bystanders who were not participating in the violence, which is also seen when the railways and telegraph lines were cut with no regard to people inside of Beijing and even outside of Beijing. The Boxers also had a very violent mindset. The Boxers also killed people “whom individual Boxers had a grudge” (Fei). For example, they would go into catholic churches and kill anyone inside the church. They would also chant: “Kill the foreign devils! Kill the secondary foreign devils (Christians). Kill Kill Kill!” (Miner). The Boxers destroyed churches, railways, and telegraph lines in order to block communication inside Beijing. Also, the Boxers were violent even before the foreigners were in China. This shows that Boxers are violent and killed innocent people they felt threatened by. The Boxers were wrong by thinking violence was the solution. It only brought more than war. In conclusion, the Boxers definitely deserve a bad reputation.
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