ents into its domestic platform in an effort to accommodate a globalizing world (Knight 318). This phenomenon marks the beginning of a trend that bears many implications for China and the US alike.
In 1898, the Republic of China began to take the first of many shapes. Likewise, the nature of the US-Sino relationship was subsequently illustrated for the first time. The Hundred-Day reform in China, beginning June 11, 1898, reflected the belief of then-emperor Guangxu that China must fundamentally rearrange the institutions of government ôfrom the throne downö; this meant ôestablishing a constitutional monarchy, revamping the discredited imperial education system, modernizing the army along Western lines, and dismissing legions of corrupt and professionally incompetent officialsö (Kapp 8). GuangxuÆs reforms failed; he was seized and imprisoned and outspoken reform advocates in China were executed.
China during this time was in relative turmoil, badly in need of reform so that it might protect itself from the imperial powers that had subdued it throughout the 19th century. In 1899, ChinaÆs ôbest ports and cities lay in æspheres of influenceÆ controlled by Great Britain, France, Germany and Japanö (Weisberger 15). Western influences were typically not regarded as benevolent, as most resulted in the degradation of Chinese national sovereignty. The Christian missionary effort in China would soon be lumped in with other odious imperialist trends that threatened to subjugate China to the whims of the West. The missionaries ôbecame lightening rods for the hostility of all Chinese who resented the blows of outsiders against local traditions, hierarchies and economiesö (Weisberger 15). The stage was being set for a horrific rebellion in the short term and nearly a century of Western suspicion, isolationism, and atheism in the long term.
The Boxers, rising to prominence in China in 1899, had a simple message: pro...