The Eight-Power Coalition captured Beijing during the invasion of China. They burned and plundered the city of Beijing, doing whatever they wanted, with no military discipline to speak of.
In the case of the Japanese army, they went straight to the hubu, snatched 3 million taels of silver and a large amount of silk in the inventory in one fell swoop, and burned the hubu in one fell swoop, destroying the evidence of the crime. Not only that, they also stole 320,000 stone warehouse rice from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and 300,000 taels of silver from the wells of Baoxun Province.
However, when foreign enemies attacked, many ordinary people in the city did not have the heart to resist, but posed as a theater and even helped or led the way for them. What kind of story is hidden?
The reason why the people did not resist was because the people at that time simply felt that the war had nothing to do with them. As we all know, the eight-power alliance's act of aggression against China was cloaked in the cloak of "suppressing the Boxers," so ordinary people felt that this war was a matter between the imperial court and foreigners, and had nothing to do with the common people at all.
According to relevant photos and records, long before the Eight-Power Alliance entered the city, many people helped them push supplies. The Eight-Power Coalition army reached the gates of Beijing, but they could not enter for a while. At this juncture, the people of the city came to ventilate the news, saying that there was a sewer, and the Qing army was not fortified, so it could drive straight in. In addition, the people also built ladders for the Eight-Nation Alliance to help them enter the city.
After the Eight-Nation Alliance entered the city, the people watched from the sidelines, and although their faces were full of worry and fear, everyone stood quietly.
To a certain extent, these acts of the Chinese people have precisely encouraged the arrogance of aggression by the great powers and further provided convenient conditions for the aggression of the great powers. Because the great powers on the expedition could not bring enough food and logistical supplies, and without the fresh water and food provided by these common people, the aggression of the great powers would obviously be more difficult.
Why, in the face of aggression by the great powers, did the Ordinary Chinese people at that time not only not rise up to resist, but were insensitive and even aided and abetted abuse?
In fact, I don't blame the common people for the above practices, after all, since the Manchu Qing Entering the Customs, they have not done anything good to the Han people. For hundreds of years, the Qing court has carried out a series of measures to crack down on the common people, such as "keeping hair without leaving a head", "enslaving the land", "literal prison", and "unjust, false and wrongly decided cases", which have long been deeply repugnant.
For the Manchu rulers, the center of all policies and measures was to consolidate their rule and maintain the privileged position of the Manchu rulers. Therefore, they frantically slaughtered a group of Han Chinese with the most rebellious spirit and blood, carried out enslavement and foolish measures throughout the country, forced the shaving of hair and changed clothes, and destroyed all cultural ancient books that were not conducive to Manchu Qing rule throughout the country, thus causing the Chinese nation to have an unprecedented cultural catastrophe.
In the late Qing dynasty, not only was the interest group of the high-ranking officials and nobles, but also a tool to ride on the heads of the people as a means of power and blessing, and for the common people, they hoped that they could change the dynasty
Moreover, during its reign, the Qing Dynasty did not cultivate the people's national consciousness, and to some extent, the Qing court was just a tribal form with the name of "state". There is a saying in "Hillside Sheep Tong Cares for the Ancients" that says it well: "Prosperity, the people suffer, death, the people suffer." In any case, the people of the Qing Dynasty did not benefit. The chinese people, who have become insensitive, naturally cannot take the initiative to maintain manchu rule.
As far as the people were concerned, although the Eight-Power Alliance burned and plundered, the Manchu Qing's behavior was not much better than that of the great powers, they were just a hill of raccoons, and the Chinese people, who had long been suppressed by heavy taxation and servitude, could only be most concerned about their own stomachs that could never be satisfied.
In a word, the Qing court's unpopularity with the people is the root cause, if they can exert efforts to govern, abandon the national views, cultivate the people's national consciousness, and then develop advanced science and technology, how can the Eight-Power Alliance easily launch a war?