The Boxer Rebellion, Boxer Uprising or Yihetuan Movement, was a violent anti-foreign, anti-Christian, and anti-imperialist uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Militia United in Righteousness, known in English as Boxers because many of their members had practised Chinese martial arts, referred to at the time as Chinese Boxing.
After the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 villagers in North China feared the expansion of foreign spheres of influence and resented the extension of privileges to Christian missionaries, who used them to support their followers. In a severe drought, violence spread across Shandong and the North China Plain, destroying foreign property, attacking or murdering Christian missionaries and Chinese Christians. In June 1900, Boxer fighters, convinced they were invulnerable to foreign weapons, converged on Beijing with the slogan "Support the Qing government and exterminate the foreigners." Diplomats, missionaries, soldiers and some Chinese Christians took refuge in the diplomatic Legation Quarter and were besieged for 55 days by the Imperial Army of China and the Boxers.