A set of old photos of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces. Behind each photo, there is a true reflection of this period of history.

In the 1830s, Britain illegally exported opium to China, which caused serious damage to China's politics, economy and society. The Qing government finally made a firm decision and sent Lin Zexu, the governor of Huguang, as the imperial envoy to ban smoking and destroy the Guangdong opium trading market.

In 1840, Britain launched an undeclared war against China. Towns along China's coast and along the Yangtze River, such as Zhoushan, Ningbo and Zhejiang, were successively attacked by British warships.

In August 1842, the Qing government suffered successive defeats and was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which was the first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history.

In the following 60 years, the Qing government opened its doors to the outside world. Unequal treaties followed one after another, including the "Treaty of Wangxia" signed with the United States, the "Treaty of Huangpu" signed with France, the "Treaty of Aihun" with Russia and the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" with Japan.

These treaties contained a number of humiliating and loss-of-sovereignty clauses regarding the cession of territory, payment of compensation, foreign garrisons, free missionary activities, and open opium trade.

So far, the colonial powers have controlled the rights of China's General Administration of Customs and tariff agreements. They enjoyed consular jurisdiction and the power to issue banknotes, and they gradually annexed and seized China's sovereignty through piecemeal infringement or wholesale.

By the end of the 19th century, there were more than 1,300 churches of various sizes in Shandong Province. After a large number of gangsters joined the church, local crimes often occurred. With the help of missionaries, the churches They often forcibly take away people's property and cause casualties.

Since local officials did not dare to interfere in these affairs, the angry farmers held fists and machetes in their hands, calling themselves "Boxers" and seeking revenge on the missionaries and parishioners who had done evil things.

The Boxers issued a proclamation, accusing the church of causing disastrous chaos in China and wasting national wealth, and vowed to demolish foreign churches and expel foreigners.

When the Boxer Rebellion first broke out in Shandong Province in 1899, the Qing government immediately sent troops to quell the rebellion. But when the Boxers still insisted on shouting the slogan "Support the Qing Dynasty and eliminate foreigners", the Qing government changed its attitude from suppression to conciliation.

However, as foreign powers became increasingly tough on the Boxers, the Qing government vacillated between suppression and appeasement.

Under this wavering policy, the Boxer Rebellion quickly spread to northern China, with tens to millions of people participating. In some villages and towns, usually foreign churches were burned down, and missionaries and parishioners were driven out or killed.

In 1900, a group of Boxer Rebellion members entered Beijing and, with the tacit approval of the Qing court, began to attack foreign embassies and churches. On June 10, the consulates and navies of the Western powers in Tianjin decided to form an Allied Force and appointed British Vice Admiral Seymour as the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, leading a force of 2,000 troops from Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Japan, and the United States. An army composed of , Austro-Hungarian and Italian soldiers landed in Tanggu, Tianjin and marched towards Beijing.

On June 12, Seymour's allied forces encountered the Boxers and Qing troops in Langfang, half way from Beijing. Facing the common resistance of the Boxers and the Qing government, Seymour's army was defeated and had no choice. Do not retreat back to Tianjin to build up your own defense forces.

On June 17, Alexeyev, Governor of Russia’s Kantung Province and Commander of the Pacific Navy, led the Russian Navy and the reorganized coalition forces of Britain, the United States, Japan, Germany, and Italy to capture the military fortress Dagukou in Tianjin. After the Qing army fought with them for more than 20 days, they fought a large-scale battle.

On July 14, Tianjin fell.

On August 4, 1900, about 20,000 Allied troops marched from Tianjin to Beijing and occupied Beijing on August 14. After entering the city, the Eight-Power Allied Forces committed countless inhumane murders such as bloodshed, robbery, and violations of women.

"Beijing, which used to be full of splendid buildings, has become a wilderness, with only dilapidated rubble left."

Due to the Gengzi Rebellion, the German Minister Klind was imprisoned. The Qing army killed Xin Chou. During the negotiations, the German representatives not only put forward extremely harsh conditions, but also asked the Qing Dynasty to send a prince-level envoy to Berlin to apologize in person.

So Zaifeng was sent to Germany to apologize in 1901. After 1908, Zaifeng served as the regent of the country, and his son Puyi was the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

Reference materials—China.com