Last time we spoke about the escalating situation in China involving foreigners and the emerging Yihequan Boxers. The incident in Liyuantun had reached a boiling point between the Yihequan and Christian’s backed by foreign actors. As hard as the Qing government tried to intermediate, they simply could not stop the boxer movement from growing. Boxers were gathering en masse in Shandong and Zhili trying to fight back against what they saw as a foreign enemy. Fight they did, but in the end the Qing government was forced to stamp down upon the ring leaders behind the multiple boxing groups until a peace was finally restored in troublesome Shandong. Yet while the Boxers went home as they say, were they truly done? The scramble for China had created a new type of enemy, one not so easily controlled and soon would make themselves heard loud and clear.    #60 Spirit Boxers & the battle at Senluo Temple   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. And so the struggle over the temple at Liyuantun had finally come to an end, peace was restored, or was it? China was still being carved up by the great powers, the christians and missionaries were still running amok and in 1898 Emperor Guangxu began his “one hundred days of reform”. A rising star within the Qing court named Kang Youwei had begun pushing progressive reforms upon the emperor. The self strengthening movement we talked about a long time ago had focused on military matters, but laced governmental and societal reforms. These limitations were showcased horribly with China’s defeat during the First Sino-Japanese War when China was forced yet again to abide by unequal treaties and now the other great powers were literally tearing her apart. The abysmal situation led to the perfect grounds for individuals like Kang Youwei and the Qing politician Liang Qichao to advocate for some rather drastic reforms, many of which the Emperor agreed to. Kang Youwei sought a blend of New Text Confucianism and western inspired modernization, in some ways it was like a Meiji restoration. It should be no surprise Kang Youwei sought such a thing, as he studied in Japan and was an avid reader of western literature. Kang Youwei wrote to the emperor “China is confronted with the gravest danger in her history” and his reply was an unprecedented two and a half audience with the Emperor. According to an eyewitness, a scholar present, the Emperor complained to Kang Youwei that the conservatives in the Qing court were ruining China with inaction. To this Kang Youwei agreed and kept pressuring the emperor the need for radical change. “You, the Emperor, I would ask you to remove yourself from the seclusion in which you live. COme boldly forward”. Well that is just what Emperor Guangxu did. A stream of imperial edicts called for changes to the examination system to stress practical studies; to reorganize and modernize the military; to establish a bureau for agriculture, industry, commerce; to translate and print more western books; to build a modern education system; to change the absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, the list could go on and on, but I think you get the picture, think more modern. Between June and September of 1898 he had issued some 40 imperial edicts. This all