Artwork Description
Hung Liu – Boxer Rebellion I
Dimensions: 30 x 80 x 10.25″ unframed
Year: 1996
Medium: oil on canvas with bird cages
The Boxer Rebellion was an officially supported peasant uprising from 1900-1902 that attempted to drive all foreigners from China. “Boxers” was a name that foreigners gave to the Chinese secret society known as the Yihequan (“Righteous and Harmonious Fists”). They violently killed foreigners and Chinese Christians within China.
The Qing empress dowager Cixi backed the Boxers as they attempted to “Support the Qing government and exterminate the foreigners.” The Boxers were known as the Militia United in Righteousness (Yìhéquán), and were called Boxers in English due to their practice of Chinese martial arts which they believed made them immune to bullets and harm. A coalition of western nations pushed back the Boxers, eventually leading to the deminse of the Qing dynasty.