The Forgotten Occupation: Peking, 1900-1901

Abstract

A GENERATION TROUBLED BY THE Vietnam War has grown accustomed to expect the worst when Americans come into contact with Asians. The occupation of Peking by the U.S. Army (August 1900-May 1901) was one of those situations rich in potential for conflict and abuse of power. The army came to China as part of an international force assembled to put down the Boxer movement and protect foreign interests. It arrived unprepared for the occupation duties it assumed as a consequence of intervention. The army carried with it no experts on China. The only obvious sources of guidance were the American missionary sinologues and their English-speaking Chinese followers. Both were in a bitter and vengeful mood after a summer of suffering. The arriving American troops, dispatched from the Philippines, were no better disposed toward the Chinese. They shared the contemporary American image of the Chinese as a backward and contemptible people. By the time they had reached the China coast in July 1900, it was alive with tales of terrible atrocities suffered by foreign missionaries