Opportunists in South China during the Boxer Rebellion

Abstract

WHILE WORLD attention in the summer of 1900oo was centered on the dramatic progress of the allied expedition to rescue the legation staffs in Peking, there were several significant developments elsewhere in China. Chinese revolutionaries, with the encouragement of the Japanese government-general of Formosa, were preparing to stage an uprising near Canton. The Tokyo government advanced to the brink of open aggression in South China, and then reluctantly reconsidered its decision. The wounded pride of the agent of that aggression, the governor general of Formosa, brought about a cabinet change in Tokyo. These events constitute important items for an evaluation of Japanese intentions and policy in China. Like the fate of the Chinese revolution, however, they have been overshadowed or ignored because the Western world was too engrossed in the fate of its own nationals at the time in North China. In 19oo, preoccupation with the developments in North China was only natural. Western historians have been content to continue this emphasis, while Japanese writers have not been inclined to question the favorable judgments of Japanese policy which it has produced. There can be no question but that Japan played a singularly conscientious role in the allied relief expedition to Peking to rescue the legation staffs in the summer of 1900oo. Japan furnished the bulk of the troops, and Japan was the first of the powers to suggest their withdrawal. The Japanese were apparently out to please the powers and anxious to prove their worth. During the military campaign the Japanese press reflected the enthusiasm of a nation which was finally accepted as an equal partner. Reporters were agreed as to the high degree of discipline displayed by the Japanese troops. Such moderation of policy and behavior seems in marked contrast to Japan's earlier activity and her later aggression, and it is not surprising