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{{Short description|1900 mass killing of Christians and missionaries in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China}}
{{Use American English|date = February 2019}}
 
{{Over-quotation|date=May 2008}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Taiyuan massacre
| image = Taiyuan massacre Account of massacre at the time.jpg
| caption = account at the time
| partof = [[Boxer Rebellion]]
| location = [[Taiyuan]], [[Shanxi]] province, [[North China]]
Line 15 ⟶ 17:
}}
{{Campaignbox Boxer Rebellion}}
The '''Taiyuan massacre''' took place during the [[Boxer Rebellion]], July 9, 1900, in [[Taiyuan]], [[Shanxi]] province, [[North China]]. Reliable recent sourcesSources recall that they were killed in the presensepresence of [[Yuxian (Qing dynasty)|Yuxian]], governor of [[Shanxi]]. 44 people were killed including children.
 
==Christians in Taiyuan beforeBefore the 1900 massacre==▼
One source alleges that there were no eye-witnesses accounts and that both the missionary sources and the Chinese official reports are conradoctory. That source concludes that, "The weight of the evidence leads to a conclusion that mob violence, not Yuxian, was responsible" for the massacre but it is not certain. {{sfnb|Thompson|2007|p=65-92}} Another study finds that the accounts from the time agreed on the skeletal narrative. {{sfnb|Clark|2013|p=98-99}}
By the late 19th century, there were long-established Christian communities. Catholic missionaries first came to Shanxi in 1633, and Protestant churches were established in 1865. {{sfnb|Clark|2013|p=98-99}}▼
 
==The massacre==
Protestant and Catholic missionaries and their Chinese parishioners were massacred throughout northern China, some by Boxers and others by government troops and authorities. After the declaration of war on Western powers in June 1900, [[Yuxian (Qing dynasty)|Yuxian]], who had been named governor in March, implemented a brutal anti-foreign and anti-Christian policy. On 9 July, reports circulated that he had executed forty-four foreigners (including women and children) from missionary families whom he had invited to the provincial capital [[Taiyuan]] under the promise to protect them.{{sfnb|Esherick|1987|p=190-191}}{{sfnb|Cohen|1997|p=51}} Roger Thompson points out that the widely circulated accounts were by people who could not have seen the events and that these accounts closely followed (often word for word) well known earlier martyr literature. In any case, this event became a notorious symbol of Chinese anger. {{sfnb|Thompson|2007|p= 65-92}} By the summer's end, more foreigners and as many as 2,000 Chinese Christians had been put to death in the province. Journalist and historical writer Nat Brandt has called the massacre of Christians in Shanxi "the greatest single tragedy in the history of Christian evangelicalism."{{sfnp|Brandt|1994|p= [https://archive.org/details/massacreinshansi00bran <!-- quote="massacre in shansi". --> xiii]}}
 
The two most prominent murdered Catholics were Italian bishops [[Gregory Grassi]] (born 1833) and [[Francis Fogolla]] (born 1839), both of whom were canonised [[Saint|Saints]] by Pope [[John Paul II]] on 1 October 2000. Their companions of martyrdom were three other [[Franciscan]] [[friar]]s, seven [[Franciscan Missionaries of Mary]], 11 Chinese members of the [[Third Order of St. Francis]]- — of whom six were seminarians- — and three Chinese employees of the franciscanFranciscan mission of Taiyuan in the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Taiyuan|Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Shansi]].<ref Theyname="summary">https://web.archive.org/web/20090511174637/https://www.bmsworldmission.org/standard.aspx?id=11242 allbmsworldmission.org</ref> belong to the [[Martyr Saints of China|120 Martyrs of China]] that were canonized by Pope John Paul II on 1 October 2000.▼
▲==Christians in Taiyuan before the 1900 massacre==
▲By the late 19th century, there were long-established Christian communities. Catholic missionaries first came to Shanxi in 1633, and Protestant churches were established in 1865. {{sfnb|Clark|2013|p=98-99}}
 
== Dispute ==
===Reports from resident missioners===
An essay by Roger Thompson suggested that mob violence was responsible for the massacre, rather than Yuxian, on the basis that the most widely circulated accounts were by people who could not have seen the events and that these accounts appeared to follow earlier martyr literature.{{sfnb|Thompson|2007|p=65-92}} However, another study found that the various accounts from the time appeared to agree on the otherwise skeletal narrative.{{sfnb|Clark|2013|p=98-99}} In any case, this event became a notorious symbol of Chinese anger.{{sfnb|Thompson|2007|p= 65-92}}
 
==The MassacreLegacy ==
The [[Shanxi University|Shansi Imperial University]] at Taiyuan was founded in 1901 with funds from the indemnity levied against Shansi for the massacre of the Christians by the Boxers.<ref name="university">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GWOe7pFmVZsC&pg=PA110 "The Study of Change: Chemistry in China, 1840-1949"], by James Reardon-Anderson, published 2003, {{ISBN|0-521-53325-2}}</ref> During the first decade of the university its chancellor was the Baptist missionary [[Timothy Richard]] who also headed the Western College.▼
 
The Catholics murdered in the massacre were subsequently canonized by [[Pope John Paul II]] on 1 October 2000 as part of the [[Martyr Saints of China|120 Martyrs of China]].
===Quotations and Other References===
 
The report states that Yu-Hsien, the Governor of Shanxi, had a bitter hatred of foreigners and was swift to follow the Empress's orders and to instruct the ford of the Yellow River to be closely guarded lest any escape:<ref>From [https://archive.org/details/chinaallies01landuoft China and the Allies Volume 1], by Arnold Henry Savage Landor, p.&nbsp;265-268. </ref>
 
{{quote|The first riot occurred on June 27, when Miss Coombs was killed and Dr. Edwards' hospital destroyed. A messenger brought this information in a letter written by Dr. Miller Wilson, and sewn into the sole of one of the messenger's shoes.
 
On July 9 the Governor, Yu-Hsien, having taken the precaution to have the gates of the city closed and carefully watched, commanded all the foreigners in the city to appear before him, sending armed soldiers to enforce his orders.
 
The Europeans, driven to the Yamen, were received in audience by Yu-Hsien, who had by his side the Prefect and Sub-Prefect of the province, while a number of servants, five hundred soldiers, and a crowd of murderous individuals, surrounded the foreigners.
 
When all had been brought up, Yu-Hsien enjoined the Europeans to prostrate themselves at his feet, accusing them of bringing vice, evil, and unhappiness in the Empire of Heaven. There was only one remedy for such evil, and that was to behead them all. The order was to be carried out in his presence.
 
Two Roman Catholic Bishops and three other missionaries were then led out, and were the first to be decapitated on the spot. Then one and all — men, women, and children — were mercilessly beheaded in the courtyard of the Yamen, in front of the hall in which they had been received in audience, and well in sight of the bloodthirsty official. [...] To satisfy their superstitious curiosity, the soldiers are said to have pounced on some of the bodies, still throbbing, of these unfortunates, and cut their hearts out for inspection by the bonzes and other learned men.
 
Insult — no greater could be given in China — was added to injury by taking the bodies outside the city walls and leaving them to the dogs instead of burying them. Great credit should be given to the local native Christians, who, with admirable pluck and faithfulness, to say nothing of the danger to themselves, surreptitiously secured the bodies by night and buried them. Partly on account of this charitable deed two hundred native Christians were put to death five days later (July 14).
 
In despatches sent by the local officials to various Yamens it is stated that 37 foreigners and 30 native converts were massacred on July 9; but it is not known for certain whether that figure includes children, or only adults. A report from a city in the neighbourhood of Tai-yuen-fu places the number at 550, quite a number of Yu-Hsien's officers being so horrified at the Governor's orders that they sent the foreigners under their charge to him, that he might carry out his vengeance personally.}}
 
The report concludes that Mr and Mrs Piggott, for whom a £5000 reward had been offered were presumed killed in July. Mr and Mrs Hay (mistakenly captured as the Piggotts) escaped to [[Hankou District|Hankow]] on 13 February 1901 with Mr M'Kie, Miss Chapman and Miss May.
 
From [https://books.google.com/books?id=U2qgpj_cSRgC&pg=PA51 Death Throes of a Dynasty: Letters and Diaries of Charles and Bessie Ewing, Missionaries to China], by Charles Ewing, Bessie Ewing, edited by E. G. Ruoff:
 
<blockquote>A fourth event was the throne's awareness of the massacre of missionaries at Taiyuan, the capital of Shansi. There on July 9, thirty-eight Protestant and Catholic missionaries and ten Chinese converts had been beheaded despite the fact that they had been under the protection of the governor, the bitterly anti-Western Manchu nobleman, Yu Hsien. Unfortunately the killings continued, so that by the end of August a total of 159 Protestant (including 46 children) and 12 Catholic missionaries had been murdered in Shansi province.</blockquote>
 
From [https://web.archive.org/web/20090503124237/http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/542/art4.htm A page of "China's Millions"], reports of the [[China Inland Mission|CIM]], page 111 includes a paragraph on Taiyuan. The report includes a map of Shanxi showing the location of missionary stations.
 
{{quote|[...] During July from 15,000 to 20,000 native converts were massacred in the northern provinces. ''The Times Correspondent''.
 
In Tai-Yuen the capital of Shansi, the notorious anti-Foreign Governor Yu Hsien, invited all the missionaries into has [sic] yamen, and some 33 Protestant Missionaries, and a number of Roman Catholic Priests, were ruthlessly murdered by his orders. [...]
 
Out of the total of 91 China Inland missionaries in that province alone, when the trouble began 36 have escaped to the coast, 38 have been murdered, and 17 are still unaccounted for. Other missions have also suffered very severely, the American Board, the English Baptist Mission, and the Sheo-yang Mission having lost nearly all their Shansi Workers.}}
 
From [https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediasin00couluoft Encyclopaedia Sinica] under the heading Boxerism (p. 62). The "party of fifteen" mentioned is that featured in "A Thousand Miles of Miracle":
 
<blockquote>Shansi, where Yü Hsien was governor, suffered most. Fire and sword reigned here, Yü Hsien himself taking part in killing the Catholic and Protestant missionaries, to the number of fifty-one, in his Yamen on July 9th and 11th. Some parties were able to escape from the South, but through much suffering : others were killed on the roads : some wandered in the mountains until the storm blew over. Over sixty foreigners were killed in the province, besides those already mentioned as massacred in T'ai-yuan fu. But a party of fifteen escaped from [[Kalgan]] across the [[Gobi desert]] and reached safety in [[Irkutsk]]. Native Christians, Protestant and Catholic, suffered cruelly, a great number being put to death.</blockquote>
 
The BMS website [https://web.archive.org/web/20090511174637/https://www.bmsworldmission.org/standard.aspx?id=11242 bmsworldmission.org] has transcriptions of telegrams sent at the time which detail those who died in Taiyuan.
 
▲The two most prominent murdered Catholics were Italian bishops [[Gregory Grassi]] (born 1833) and [[Francis Fogolla]] (born 1839), both of whom were canonised [[Saint|Saints]] by Pope [[John Paul II]] on 1 October 2000. Their companions of martyrdom were three other [[Franciscan]] [[friar]]s, seven [[Franciscan Missionaries of Mary]], 11 Chinese members of the [[Third Order of St. Francis]]- of whom six were seminarians- and three Chinese employees of the franciscan mission of Taiyuan in the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Taiyuan|Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Shansi]]. They all belong to the [[Martyr Saints of China|120 Martyrs of China]] that were canonized by Pope John Paul II on 1 October 2000.
 
==Later related events==
 
===Reparations===
<blockquote>About three months later than the Memorial Services at Pao-ting-fu which have just been referred to, a party of eight missionaries started for the province of Shan-si. Their names are Dr. E. H. Edwards of the [[The Sheo Yang Mission|Sheo-yang Mission]], Rev. Moir Duncan, and Dr. Creasy Smith of the B.M.S., Dr Atwood of the American Board, and Messrs. D. E. Hoste, A. Orr-Ewing, C. H. Tjader, and Ernest Taylor of the C.I.M. In response to the invitation of the new Governor, Ts en-ch un-hsiien, the party of eight missionaries, under an escort provided by the Governor, started from Pao-ting-fu on Wednesday, June 26, reaching T ai-yiian-fu [poor transcription of Taiyuan-fu, the capital of the Shanxi province] on July 9 the first anniversary of the awful massacre in that very city. The following extract from the diary of one of this party describes their reception : </blockquote>
 
<blockquote>July 9. Reached T ai-yiian-fu. Twelve months ago to-day forty-five European and American missionaries and others were slaughtered by order of the Governor. The scene to-day was a strange contrast. Thirty miles off, outriders inquired as to the time of our arrival. Ten miles off, the Governor s body guard blared out their welcome and unfurled their standards. Two miles nearer, the Shan-si mounted police made salute. Three miles from the city, we exchanged our litters for Pekin carts to facilitate our reception. A large and representative body of Christians seemed delighted to welcome us. Their faces bore clear traces of the sufferings endured. From this point the procession rapidly increased, as we proceeded between rows of officials, both military and civil. At the entrance to the pavilion stood an Imperial officer, who stepped forward and said, "I welcome you in the name of the Emperor of China." </blockquote>
 
Taken unedited from "Last Letters and Further Records of Martyred Missionaries of the China Inland Mission"<ref name="pigott">[http://digilib.bu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2144/715/lastlettersfurth00unknuoft.txt?sequence=1 An OCR-ed version] of Last letters and further records of martyred missionaries of the china inland mission; with portraits and illustrations, edited by [[Marshall Broomhall|Marshall Broomhall B.A.]], published in London by Morgan & Scott</ref>
 
===Indemnity funds===
▲The [[Shanxi University|Shansi Imperial University]] at Taiyuan was founded in 1901 with funds from the indemnity levied against Shansi for the massacre of the Christians by the Boxers.<ref name="university">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GWOe7pFmVZsC&pg=PA110 "The Study of Change: Chemistry in China, 1840-1949"], by James Reardon-Anderson, published 2003, {{ISBN|0-521-53325-2}}</ref> During the first decade of the university its chancellor was the Baptist missionary [[Timothy Richard]] who also headed the Western College.
 
==References and further reading==
{{Reflist}}▼
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last = Brandt|first = Nat|year = 1994|title = Massacre in Shansi|publisher = Syracuse University Press|location = Syracuse, N.Y.|isbn = 0815602820|url = https://archive.org/details/massacreinshansi00bran}}
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==See also==
 
{{div col}}
*[[China Martyrs of 1900]] (Protestants)
*[[Martyr Saints of China]] (Catholics)
*[[Metrophanes, Chi Sung]] (Orthodox)
* [[Oberlin Band (China)]]
*[[List of massacres in China]]
*[[July 1900]]
{{div col end}}
 
{{Protestant missions to China}}
==Notes==
▲{{Reflist}}
 
==External links==
*[http://thompsonbrothersgeneology.com/FamilyHistories/LordFamily/list-of-protestant-missionaries-killed-during-the-boxer-rebellion.pdf Protestant missionaries killed during the Boxer Rebellion]
 
{{coord missing|Shanxi}}
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[[Category:Boxer Rebellion]]
[[Category:Christian missions in China]]
[[Category:MassacresHistory of ChristiansTaiyuan]]▼
 
[[Category:19th-century Christian martyrs]]
[[Category:Massacres of Christians in China]]
▲[[Category:Massacres of Christians]]
[[Category:July 1900 events]]
[[Category:1900 murders in China]]
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