Copyright ã International Bond & Share
Society 2001
China in the 1890s was a very disturbed land. Central government, never very effective, had more or less broken down in many areas and, both economically and militarily, the country was weak. War in 1895 led to a victorious Japan occupying part of Manchuria (northeast China). Foreign powers took advantage of China’s weakness to give themselves « areas of influence », « treaty ports » and all types of concessions, much more to their advantage than China’s. France had influence in the south, Britain in the Yangtse valley, Germany in the Shantung peninsula, and Russia in the rest of Manchuria.
Ordinary Chinese were angry, and blamed the « foreign
devils ». Although popular opinion was xenophobic generally, not
specifically anti-Christian, the most accessible foreign targets were
missionaries, and many missions were destroyed and missionaries killed. By
1898, much of the resentment had coalesced into one of China’s many secret societies,
the Yihetuan (variously translated as « The Armies of Justice and
Peace » or « The Society of the Righteous Fist »), whose symbol
was a clenched fist. They were linked to the White Lotus Society, who practised
a form of sacred boxing. On account of all this, its members became known to
the west as the Boxers.
Rebellion
The Boxers’ main area of activity was northeast China, from Shantung to
the Peking region (now Beijing), although sympathisers caused trouble
elsewhere. Sporadic attacks on missions, in late 1898, grew into a campaign by
an army of up to 200,000 men, mostly peasants and boatmen displaced by the use
of steamships. The climax of the rebellion was an attack on Peking in 1900,
when a Boxer army, helped by some Imperial troops, besieged the diplomatic
quarter. The story of the desperate defence of the foreign legations is
well-known, and told in the film 100 Days
in Peking. The legations were relieved, just in time, by an army from eight
nations, led by the German General von Waldersee, which had fought its way from
the sea at Tientsin.
Reparations
The Imperial Government was held by the European powers to have
permitted, or even encouraged, the Boxers.
Under the « Boxer Protocol », China was forced to make
valuable trade and railway concessions, and was subjected to a huge
compensation indemnity of 450 million Haikwan taels (£67,500,000), payable with
interest over 39 years. The indemnity was granted to the various nations, as
follows :
Russia 28,7% £19,372,500
Germany 20,0% £13,500,000
France 15,7% £10,597,500
Great Britain 11,0% £7,425,000
Japan 7,7% £5,197,500
USA
7,3% £4,927,500
Italy 5,9% £3,982,500
Belgium 1,9% £1,282,500
The other 1,8% was
shared amongst Austria-Hungary, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Norway and
Sweden. China entered World War I, against Germany, in 1918, and a waiver of
five years’ repayments was granted as a result. Moreover, after the end of that
war, balances due to Germany and Austria-Hungary were cancelled.
Bond issues
Although the majority of the Boxer indemnity was to pay for damage and
losses caused to foreign interests during the rebellion, a part related to
funds for building the embankments of the Whangpu and Peiho rivers. The total
amount of the indemnity was divided into five payment series, payable by China
over different periods, starting from 1902 to 1932, but all to be completed in
1940. These inter-government obligations were probably not printed as bearer
bonds.
However, several of
the creditor nations later made bond issues against the indemnity due to them,
so as to raise cash in advance of the Chinese payment dates. Russia, France,
Belgium and Great Britain have left such « Boxer Bonds » known to
collectors today. A fifth, Italy, issued a loan in 1933 for $4,400,000, but
these bonds have not been seen by scripophilists, and may not have been sold to
the public.
Much of our financial and scripophily detail are from China’s Foreign Debt by Wilhelm Kuhlmann, Hanover 1983.
Copyright ã INTERNATIONAL BOND & SHARE
SOCIETY 2001
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