er, 1978, p. 35).
In other words, the popular culture of the late imperial time was shaped primarily by the threat posed from foreign and internal sources to the very existence of the Chinese civilization. As Duiker writes, "In late 1898 China responded at the national level by creating a new leadership determined to resist any further foreign encroachments. At the local level, villagers retaliated with increasing attacks on missionaries and other symbols of the foreign presence" (Duiker, 1978, p. 36).
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