“There are things that I must not write, and that may not be printed in England, which would seem to show that this Western civilisation of ours is merely a veneer over savagery”-George Lynch

During and after the defeat of the Boxer Rebellion, the Eight Nation Alliance occupied Zhili province while Russia occupied Manchuria, but the rest of China was not occupied due to the actions of several Han governors who formed the Mutual Protection of Southeast China. These governors refused to obey the declaration of war and kept their armies and provinces out of the conflict. Thanks to this, they remained safe from the savagery that would later descend upon both provinces. The incidents of atrocities and sexual violence during the occupation, far from being isolated events, were systematic, at best ignored, and at worst encouraged, by the high military command of the Eight Nation Alliance. One of the accounts of these events that we have is from Japanese journalist Sawara Tokusuke, who wrote in “Miscellaneous Notes about the Boxers” the following:

>*”The Allied forces would frequently capture women, no matter virtuous, wretched, old or young, and would, as much as they could, displace them to Biaobei alleys and to live in row houses there as prostitutes for the soldiers. The West end of this alley the path would have been blocked off, in order to prevent escape, the East end was the only way in or out. This way was guarded. Any person from the Allied forces could enter for pleasure and rape to his heart’s desire.”*

Sawara also reports on the seven daughters of the Manchu bannerman Yulu of the Hitara clan, the Viceroy of the province of Zhili (present day Hebei). Yulu was on good terms with the invaders. He was a man who always sought to create good impressions, and due to this, the British Consul at Tianjin offered him asylum on board of one of Her Majesty’s ships for his loyalty to the British. Later in the war Yulu perished in the battle for Yangcun. When Beijing fell, the Allies abducted all seven of his daughters and then sent them to the Heavenly Palace in Beijing where they were repeatedly violated. Then they were held captive as sex slaves for the soldiers in one of the rape-manors mentioned above.

Another story relays the fate that befell the women of Chongqi’s household. Chongqi was a nobleman from the Mongolian Alute clan and scholar of high standing in the Imperial Manchu court. He was also the father-in-law of the previous Emperor. His wife and one of his daughters, much like Yulu’s daughters, were captured by the invading soldiers. They were taken to the Heavenly Temple, held captive and were then brutally raped by dozens of Eight Nations Alliance soldiers during the entire course of the Beijing occupation. Only after the Eight Nations Alliance’s retreat did the mother and daughter return home, only to hang themselves from the rafters. Upon this discovery, Chongqi, out of despair, soon followed suit. He hung himself on 26 August 1900. His son, Baochu, and many other family members committed suicide shortly after.

Jesus Christ, I don’t even have words for what I just read, It’s one of those moments where you see how low people can stoop, using war as an excuse to commit all kinds of atrocities.