Former Site of the Birthplace of the Yihetuan Movement in Weixian County

Former Site of the Birthplace of the Yihetuan Movement in Weixian County

The Former Site of the Birthplace of the Yihetuan Movement in Weixian County serves as a patriotic education base.

Weixian County is the birthplace of the Yihetuan Movement, and several important historical sites related to its origins are located within the current boundaries of Weixian. The county is situated in southern Hebei Province, traversed from north to south by National Highway 106 and crossed east to west by the Xingtai-Lincheng Road. It enjoys convenient transportation, a simple and honest folk culture, a long history, and a land of outstanding people. In 1999, the former Yihetuan site in Weixian was designated as a patriotic education base by the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government.

The Yihetuan Movement was a major event in early 20th-century China that had global repercussions. It was not merely a conflict between locals and foreigners or a clash of cultures, but rather an anti-imperialist uprising triggered by intense national crisis. The movement erupted when the Chinese nation faced unprecedented peril. Thousands of Chinese fearlessly faced life and death, battling the Eight-Nation Alliance armed with advanced weaponry with their flesh and blood. They demonstrated to the invaders the Chinese people’s immense strength and indomitable spirit in defending national independence and resolutely resisting foreign aggression. The movement curbed the Western powers’ attempts to invade and partition China, leaving behind invaluable lessons and spiritual inspiration for future generations. As praised by Premier Zhou Enlai, the heroic struggle of the Yihetuan was “one of the cornerstones of the great victory of the Chinese people fifty years later.”

In the autumn of 1898 (the 24th year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty), Zhao Sanduo, leader of the Yihetuan (Boxers) in Shaliuzhai, Weixian, led his followers to raise the banner of “Support the Qing, Destroy the Foreign” at Jiangzhuang Horse Farm in Guanzhou, Shandong (now part of Weixian), declaring an uprising. This marked the official beginning of the Yihetuan Movement. Due to its unique role and significance in the history of the Yihetuan Movement, in October 2000, domestic and international experts attending the “International Academic Symposium on the Centennial of the Yihetuan Movement” traveled specifically to Weixian, the birthplace of the movement in Hebei Province, to conduct academic investigations. They also held the unveiling ceremony for the “Centennial Monument of the Yihetuan Movement,” erected by the Chinese Historical Society and the Chinese Yihetuan Research Association. This established Weixian’s historical status as the birthplace of the Yihetuan Movement.

Key historical sites related to the former Yihetuan site in Weixian include: the Yihetuan Council Hall, the Former Residence of Zhao Sanduo, the Site of the Liyuantun Incident, the Site of the Jiangzhuang Horse Farm Uprising, and the Yihetuan Memorial Hall. The Yihetuan Council Hall and the Former Residence of Zhao Sanduo are located in Shaliuzhai Village, about 15 kilometers east of Weixian County town. These were the places where Zhao Sanduo and other Yihetuan leaders planned military strategies in the past. In 1986, the Weixian County Government allocated funds for its restoration, and in 1988 and 1990, the National Cultural Relics Bureau and the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau provided additional funding for further repairs. The hall is a typical traditional northern-style residence, featuring five rooms in the main northern building. Inside, there is an exhibition introducing the struggles of Zhao Sanduo and the Yihetuan he led. In the western exhibition room, a portrait of Zhao Sanduo in military attire stands at the center—he is depicted holding a large saber, brave and resolute, exuding righteousness. The room also displays some Yihetuan relics, presenting a vivid and three-dimensional portrayal of the bloody battles led by Zhao Sanduo and his Yihetuan. The Former Residence of Zhao Sanduo is 60 meters away from the Yihetuan Council Hall and is also a typical ordinary residence. It has three rooms in the main northern building and three rooms in the western building. The northern rooms house old-style furniture and weapons used by Zhao Sanduo’s family, while the western rooms display old looms, spinning wheels, cooking utensils, and farming tools. There is also a plum blossom pile in the yard used for martial arts training, allowing visitors to truly sense the strong martial atmosphere and the rural charm of southern Hebei.

The Site of the Liyuantun Incident is located in the center of Liyuantun Village and is where the Liyuantun Temple Land Dispute—considered the spark that ignited the Yihetuan Movement—took place. The incident began in the 12th year of the Tongzhi reign in the Qing Dynasty (1873), when a dispute over the land of the Jade Emperor Temple arose between local villagers and church members, leading to over 20 years of conflict over the temple. As early as the Kangxi reign in the Qing Dynasty, local gentry such as Li Chenglong donated a piece of sloping land to establish a free school, and later a Jade Emperor Temple was built behind it. In the late Xianfeng reign, the temple was destroyed in war. In the 8th year of the Tongzhi reign (1869), after discussions among village leaders including those from the three streets, the land, the free school, and the temple were divided equally. The church members donated their portion of the land to the foreign missionary Liang Zongming. In the 12th year of the Tongzhi reign, the Catholic Church built a church on the original site of the Jade Emperor Temple. Both sides brought the case to Guanzhou County, where the county magistrate, based on the original division document from 1869, permitted the construction of the church on the original temple land. In the 7th year of the Guangxu reign (1881), the original ruling was changed. In the spring of the 13th year of the Guangxu reign (1887), church members expanded the church building, provoking public anger. Villagers tore down the church and rebuilt the temple, using weapons to block the reconstruction. Later, through the mediation of Pan Guangmei, a respected elder from Liangzhuang Village of the Eighteen Villages, both sides reconciled and lived in peace for two years. By November of the 15th year of the Guangxu reign (1889), due to the involvement of the French ambassador and the Shandong bishop, the two-year lull in the temple dispute reignited. Villagers such as Yan Shuqin and Gao Yuanxiang, known as the “Eighteen Heroes,” stepped forward to protect the temple with force. They also sought support from Zhao Sanduo’s Plum Blossom Boxing group in Shaliuzhai Village, Weixian. Starting on February 22 of the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign (March 24, 1897), they held a “martial display” in Liyuantun for three days to protest against the government and the church. On March 26 (April 27), over 3,000 members of the Plum Blossom Boxing group returned to Liyuantun, armed with blades and weapons, killing two church members and tearing down the church. At this point, Zhao Sanduo’s Plum Blossom Boxing group “gathered ten thousand people overnight,” shocking both the Qing government and foreign churches.

Leaders of the Yihetuan such as Zhao Sanduo, Yan Shuqin, and Yao Wenqi gathered followers in Shaliuzhai to train in martial arts, analyze military situations, and prepare for rebellion. The “Yihetuan Council Hall” in the northwest corner of Shaliuzhai Village was where they discussed military strategies. The Yihetuan accepted the “Eighteen Heroes” as disciples, and key decisions such as attacking Liyuantun, changing the name from Plum Blossom Boxing to Yihetuan, and the Jiangzhuang Horse Farm uprising in 1898 were all made here. In October 1898, the Yihetuan led by Zhao Sanduo raised their banner and launched an uprising at Jiangzhuang Horse Farm, marking the beginning of the Yihetuan Movement. The organizational name and banner slogan they proposed were adopted by many anti-foreign religious organizations in Zhili and Shandong, enabling the rapid growth of the Yihetuan Movement.

After the first uprising led by Zhao Sanduo’s Yihetuan, they attacked Hongtaoyuan, captured the Xiaoligu Church, and burned the Thirdkou Church. However, under the joint suppression of troops from Zhili and Shandong, the uprising failed. Yao Wenqi, a key Yihetuan leader, was arrested and soon executed. Zhao Sanduo led some core members northward to central Zhili. They spread the spark of resistance in areas such as Wu Yi, Jin County, Cangzhou, and Zaoqiang.

On May 17, 1899 (the 8th day of the 4th lunar month in the 25th year of the Guangxu reign), Zhao Sanduo convened a meeting of Yihetuan leaders at the Great Buddha Temple in Zhengding. They renamed the Yihetuan as the “Divine-Supported Yihetuan,” widely distributed the “Divine-Supported Yihetuan Proclamation,” and decided to unite with other resistance organizations for a joint struggle.

On May 2, 1900, Zhao Sanduo launched his second uprising in Juanzi Town, Zaoqiang, leading over ten thousand boxers and civilians to combat reactionary church forces with force. At the same time, they initiated a “Grain Equalization” campaign, forcibly demanding that wealthy households distribute grain to poor farmers. Zhao Sanduo led his forces back to Gaocheng, Nangong, and Weixian, attacking the Xiaolu Church in Linqing, and then targeting the churches in Liyuantun, Xiaoligu, and Hongtaoyuan. This left the Catholic churches in Zhaojiazhuang and Weicun, Weixian, in constant fear.

After the Yihetuan Movement was suppressed by domestic and foreign reactionaries in 1900, Zhao Sanduo carried out secret activities among the people in southern Zhili, waiting for an opportunity to rise again. In 1901, he tried to persuade Zheng Antao from Youbao, Guangzong, to join him in an uprising. Later, when Jing Tingbin and Liu Yongqing from Guangzong organized a village defense association to resist taxes, Zhao Sanduo joined them. On April 23, 1902, he participated in Jing Tingbin’s “Sweep the Qing, Destroy the Foreign” major uprising held at Xiatai Temple in Julu. At the start of the uprising, the rebel forces attacked the newly trained Left Army Battalion led by Camp Officer Bao Guiqing of the Qing army, killing over 50 officers including Adjutant Lü Xiaoshen. They then killed three people, including the French missionary Roerich. The rebels also attacked churches in Zhangzhuang, Sizhuang, and Junzhai in Weixian. The Qing court ordered Yuan Shikai, the Governor-General of Zhili, to quickly dispatch troops to suppress the uprising. Under the Qing army’s crackdown, the grand “Sweep the Qing, Destroy the Foreign” uprising failed. Leaders of the uprising, including Jing Tingbin and Zhao Sanduo, were brutally executed, but their heroic deeds and noble character have been forever admired by later generations. Zhao Sanduo, the leader of the Yihetuan in Weixian, led uprisings three times over five years from autumn 1898 until his sacrifice in 1902, making him the only key leader in the history of the Yihetuan Movement who experienced the entire course of the movement. Due to the special status of the Yihetuan in Weixian and Zhao Sanduo in the history of the movement, the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government designated the former Yihetuan site in Weixian as the “Hebei Provincial Patriotic Education Base.” Weixian also invested heavily in constructing the “Yihetuan Memorial Hall,” which is currently the only large-scale memorial venue in China that comprehensively reflects the Yihetuan Movement.

The Yihetuan Memorial Hall is located in the county town of Weixian, at the southern end of Yihetuan Square. It is a large modern building housing a comprehensive exhibition on the “Yihetuan Movement.” The exhibition area is divided into three halls. The entrance hall features a large oil painting titled “The Yihetuan Fight Against the Eight-Nation Alliance.” The exhibition is divided into eight sections, displayed in the first and second halls. The first hall is divided into four sections. The first section, “Foreign Aggression, Opened Gates,” includes the post-Opium War situation in China, economic plunder under coercion, missionary activities under the shadow of cannons, and the corruption of the Qing court causing widespread suffering. The second section, “Conflicts Between Locals and Foreigners, Frequent Incidents,” divides the late Qing dynasty’s missionary incidents into three periods, showcasing the angry outcry of the Chinese people under economic and cultural aggression. The third section, “Origins of the Yihetuan,” is divided into three topics: “Special Social and Geographic Environment,” “The Spark of the Yihetuan—Liyuantun Incident,” and “The First Flag Raising at Jiangzhuang Horse Farm,” illustrating the outbreak and causes of the Yihetuan Movement in the Weixian area. The fourth section, “A Spark Becomes a Prairie Fire,” depicts the climax and influence of the Zhili Yihetuan and their struggles after advancing into Beijing and Tianjin. The second hall contains the remaining four sections, five to eight. The fifth section, “Iron Hooves of the Eight Nations Trample Tianjin and Tanggu,” includes the Schleifel Corps’ setback in Langfang, the capture of Dagu by the allied forces, and the Bloody Tianjin. The sixth section, “Blood and Tears in the Capital, Smoke Across China,” mainly covers the atrocities of the Eight-Nation Alliance in Beijing, the suppression of the Yihetuan by domestic and foreign reactionaries, and the Chinese people’s resistance against foreign invaders. The seventh section, “National Humiliation, China in Peril,” focuses on the corrupt and incompetent Qing government signing the Boxer Protocol under foreign pressure and erecting a memorial archway for Ketteler, among other humiliating acts. The eighth section, “Sweep the Qing, Destroy the Foreign, Blood Soaked China,” highlights the “Sweep the Qing, Destroy the Foreign” major uprising led by Jing Tingbin in Guangzong, Hebei, in 1902, and the undeniable fact that Zhao Sanduo led the remaining Yihetuan forces to join the uprising. It shows the desperate struggle of the people of southern Hebei against domestic and foreign enemies. The section concludes with materials such as high praise for the Yihetuan from Lenin and Germany’s Vorwärts newspaper, ending with a large image of Premier Zhou Enlai receiving the returned Yihetuan flag from German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann. The entire exhibition concludes with Premier Zhou Enlai’s statement that the Yihetuan’s heroic struggle was “one of the cornerstones of the great victory of the Chinese people fifty years later.”

As one of the Hebei Provincial Patriotic Education Bases, the former site of the Yihetuan Movement continues to play its irreplaceable and vital role. Weixian is further improving supporting facilities, enhancing the hardware and software of the venues, and developing tourism resources with Yihetuan cultural characteristics, so that it can better inspire the people to “reflect on history, remember national humiliation, and strive for the country through hard work.”