Ein chinesischer Christ blickt zurück auf den „Boxeraufstand“ (1903)

[...] Ich sah eine große Karawane auf mich zukommen, Planwagen, Maultiergespanne, Reiter, Fußvolk. Es waren die Beamten und Reichen von Peking, die mit ihren Familien vor den fremden Soldaten geflohen waren und von ihrem Besitz mitnahmen, was sie konnten. Tag für Tag traf ich sie, Hunderttausende von flüchtenden Soldaten und andere. Die Soldaten plünderten links und rechts und überzogen das Land wie eine Heuschreckenplage, und die verängstigten Einwohner flohen vor ihnen. Fast jeder Soldat hatte ein Pferd, ein Maultier, einen Esel oder ein Kamel gestohlen und mit der eigenen Beute beladen.

Obwohl die Alliierten [ausländischen Truppen von Deutschland, Frankreich, Großbritannien, Italien, Japan, Österreich, Russland und den USA] Beijing und die umliegende Region besetzten, trainierten die Boxer immer noch, und in der nur wenige Kilometer entfernten Stadt Niumutun 牛牧屯 gab es ein Lager mit über tausend Mann. Mein Bruder drängte mich, so schnell wie möglich in Beijing Zuflucht zu suchen, denn in unserem Dorf drohten mir zwei Gefahren, nämlich von den Boxern getötet zu werden oder von den ausländischen Soldaten als Arbeiter rekrutiert zu werden. Später erzählte mir mein Bruder ausführlich, wie eines Tages einige Sikhs [indische Soldaten im Dienste Großbritanniens] in das Dorf gekommen waren und ihn sowie mehrere Nachbarn gepackt, ein Seil an ihre Zöpfe [verpflichtende Haatracht für Männer in der Qing-Dynastie] gebunden und sie dann wie Maultiere aneinandergereiht hatten. Männer führten sie an und trieben sie an, brachten sie zum Flussufer, um Boote zu ziehen. Mein Bruder hatte noch nie zuvor eine solche Arbeit verrichtet. Er watete durch Schlamm und Wasser, manchmal bis zur Hüfte, und wurde von der Peitsche angetrieben, bis es dunkel wurde. Da er nicht auf dem Boot schlafen durfte, legte er sich am nassen Flussufer hin. In Tongzhou gelang es ihm zu fliehen, aber die anderen wurden in ein Lager gebracht, und von einigen hat man nie wieder etwas gehört.
Im August, als die chinesischen Soldaten vor den vorrückenden Alliierten flohen, hatten sie das Land auf ihrem Weg heimgesucht, und die verängstigten Bewohner waren vor ihnen geflohen. Dicht hinter ihnen folgten die gefürchteten ausländischen Soldaten, und wochenlang herrschte Terror. [...]
Den folgenden Tag verbrachten wir damit, durch die zerstörten Straßen von Tongzhou zu gehen. Es war keine Frau und kein Kind zu sehen, und auch kaum ein Mann. Leichen trieben auf dem Fluss, überall waren die Auswirkungen von Grausamkeit und Gier zu sehen. Die Russen waren am schlimmsten in ihren Gräueltaten, dann kamen die Franzosen und die Deutschen. Die Stadt war verwüstet. Das hatte ihr das Räuchern, die Anbetung der Götter und ihre Bemühungen, die Fremden auszurotten, eingebracht. Wir standen auch bei den Ruinen unserer eigenen Mission, wo es nichts zu sehen gab als zerbrochene Ziegel und Fliesen. Nicht einmal die Fundamente der Gebäude waren zu erkennen.

[p. 63] The people of Shansi [Shanxi 山西] are naturally timid and gentle, not given to making disturbances, being the most peaceable people in China. So our Shansi Christians were hopeful for themselves, even when the reports from the coast grew more alarming. But there was one thing which caused us deep apprehension, and that was the fact that the wicked, cruel Yü Hsien [Yuxian 毓賢], the hater of foreigners, was the newly appointed Governor of Shansi. He had previously promoted the Boxer movement in Shantung [Shandong 山東] and had persuaded the Empress Dowager that the Boxers had supernatural powers and were true patriots.

[p. 64] Early in June, my college friend K'ung Hsiang Hsi [Kong Xiangxi 孔祥熙] came back from T'ungchou [Tongzhou 通州], reporting that the state of affairs there and at Peking was growing worse, that the local officials were powerless against the Boxers, and that the Boxers, armed with swords, were constantly threatening Christians scattered in the country. From this time, we had no communication with Tientsin [Tianjin 天津] or Peking [Beijing 北京]. All travelers were searched, and if discovered bearing foreign letters, they were killed. [...]

[p. 66] The wicked Governor, Yü Hsien, scattered proclamations broadcast. These stated that the foreign religions overthrew morality and inflamed men to do evil, so now gods and men were stirred up against them, and Heaven’s legions had been sent to exterminate the foreign devils. Moreover there were the Boxers, faithful to their sovereign, loyal to their country, determined to unite in wiping out the foreign religion. He also offered a reward to all who killed foreigners, either titles or office or money. When the highest official in the province took such a stand in favor of the Boxers, what could inferior officials do? People and officials bowed to his will, and all who enlisted as Boxers were in high favor. It was a time of license and anarchy, when not only Christians were killed, but hundreds of others against whom individual Boxers had a grudge.

Crowds of people kept passing our mission gate to see what might be happening, for the city was full of rumors. "The foreigners have all fled." "Many foreigners from other places have gathered here." [...] "The foreigners have hired men to poison wells and to smear gates with blood." [...]

[p. 67] Late in July, a proclamation of the Governor was posted in the city in which occurred the words, "Exterminate foreigners, kill devils." Native Christians must leave the church or pay the penalty with their lives. [...]

[p. 141] […] I saw approaching me a great caravan, covered carts, mule litters, [p. 142] horsemen, footmen. It was the officials and rich men of Peking, who had fled with their families before the foreign soldiers, taking with them what they could of their possessions. Day after day I met them, hundreds of thousands of refugee soldiers and others. The soldiers were looting right and left as they went, sweeping the country like a scourge of locusts, and the frightened inhabitants fled before their coming. Nearly every soldier had stolen a horse, mule, donkey, or camel, loaded with his booty.

[p. 157] Although the Allies were occupying Peking and the surrounding region, the Boxers were still practising, and in the town of Niu Mu T’un, only a few miles away, there was a camp of over a thousand. My brother urged me to take refuge in Peking as speedily as possible, for in our village [p. 158] two dangers menaced me, that of being killed by the Boxers and that of being impressed as a laborer by the foreign soldiers. Later my brother told me in detail how some Sikhs had come to the village one day, and, seizing him and several neighbors, had tied a rope to their queues, then stringing them together like mules, with men leading in front and driving behind, had taken them to the river bank to drag boats. My brother had never done such work before. Wading in mud and water, sometimes up to his waist, with the whip lash to urge him on, he had dragged until nightfall, then, not being allowed to sleep on the boat, had lain down on the wet river bank. At T’ungchou he had succeeded in making his escape, but the others had been taken into the camp, and some had never yet been heard from.

In August, when the Chinese soldiers had fled before the advancing Allies, they had harried the country as they went, and the terrified inhabitants had scattered before them. Close behind came the dreaded foreign soldiers, and for weeks there was a reign of terror. [...]

[p. 171] We spent much of the following day walking through the ruined streets of T’ungchou. There was not a woman or child to be seen, and hardly a man. Corpses floated on the river, everywhere were seen the effects of cruelty and lust. The Russians had been worst in their atrocities, then came the French and the Germans. The city was desolate. To this had her incense-burning, her worship of the gods, her efforts to exterminate the foreigners, brought her. We stood also by the ruins of our own mission, where there was nothing to be seen but broken bricks and tile. Not even the foundations of the buildings could be distinguished.